transgender

Vanderbilt University Medical Center came under fierce scrutiny after conservative political commentator posted tweets accusing the private hospital of opening its transgender health clinic because it was profitable.

Medicaid beneficiaries receiving gender-affirming care are now responsible for paying the costs. The four plantiffs, including two children, say the treatments are “medically necessary, safe and effective.”

The codes used by U.S. medical providers to bill insurers haven’t caught up to the needs of trans patients or even international standards. Consequently, doctors are forced to get creative with what codes they use, or patients spend hours fighting big out-of-pocket bills.

A joint committee of the Florida Board of Medicine and the Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine will discuss a draft rule that could restrict doctors from providing transgender treatments to people younger than 18.

The suit was filed on behalf of four Medicaid recipients, including the parents of child who came out as transgender at age 7 and a plaintiff preauthorized for a surgery before coveraged was stripped.

The ruling from the Virignia-based court could become a tool to challenge legislation restricting access to medical care and other accommodations for transgender people, advocates say.

Attorneys representing individuals and groups say they plan to file a federal lawsuit challenging the rule, which went into effect Sunday.

Under the rule, which goes into effect Aug. 21, Medicaid would not cover puberty-blocking meds, hormones and hormone “antagonists,” gender-affirmation surgeries and “other procedures that alter primary or secondary sexual characteristics.”

The decision came after the Florida Department of Health last month filed a petition asking the medical board to initiate a rule-making process on the contentious issue.

The petition proposes what is known as a “standard of care” that would prohibit patients under age 18 from receiving sex-reassignment surgery and puberty-blocking, hormone and hormone “antagonist” treatments.