gender affirming care

The Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in cases involving coverage of gender-affirming care by North Carolina’s state employee health plan and the coverage of gender-affirming surgery by West Virginia Medicaid.

In Missouri and North Dakota, health systems and advocates say the reason is the possibility of legal action against doctors and their employers for injuries related to the treatment, even many years later.

The state cites the 11th Circuit appellate panel's decision in a "virtually identical case" in asking the court to allow a law preventing minors from receiving puberty blockers and hormone therapy.

Judge Robert Hinkle ruled that adults seeking to expand his injunction on minors haven’t proven they would be irreparably harmed until the case is resolved.

Georgia had asked the judge to vacate a preliminary injunction because a panel with the 11th Circuit of Appeals allowed enforcement of a similar Alabama law. Florida has also appealed to the 11th Circuit to overturn two rulings on gender-affirming care.

A two-hour hearing was held on the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction to halt portions of the law dealing with trans adults and on a request for class-action certification.

In the political debate around gender-affirming care for youth, discussion of puberty blockers is often saturated with rhetoric, creating confusion and generating misinformation. PolitiFact answers some of the big questions around the drugs.

The increase likely reflects expanded insurance coverage for transgender care after the Obama administration and some states actively discouraged discrimination based on gender identity, the study's lead author says.

The state says Judge Sarah Geraghty should vacate her order blocking a hormone therapy ban because an 11th Circuit Court of Appeals panel allowed enforcement of a similar Alabama law.

The decision was by three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where Florida is appealing two court decisions that halted its new laws to limit gender-affirming care for minors.