By Selena Simmons-Duffin

Updated Thursday, December 18, 2025 • 2:20 PM EST

Health officials from the Trump administration announced several moves Thursday that will have the effect of essentially banning gender-affirming care for transgender young people, even in states where it is still legal.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Mehmet Oz, who leads Medicaid and Medicare, announced the measures in a press conference at the headquarters of the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C.

The ban takes the form of two new proposed rules from Medicaid and Medicare. The first would prohibit doctors and hospitals from receiving federal Medicaid reimbursement for gender-affirming care provided to transgender patients younger than age 18. Medicaid is the health care program that covers low-income Americans.

The second would block all Medicaid and Medicare funding for any services at hospitals that provide pediatric gender-affirming care. Virtually every hospital in the country takes Medicare, which covers older Americans and the disabled. Because hospitals rely on Medicare, the rule would have a wide-ranging effect.

Supporters and opponents of transgender rights agree that, taken together, the forthcoming hospital rules could make access to pediatric gender-affirming care across the country extremely difficult, if not impossible. The care is already banned in 27 states. The proposed rules will be entered into the Federal Register on Friday and that starts a 60-day comment period. The rules would not take effect immediately.

The American Civil Liberties Union has announced plans to sue to stop the rules.