California attorney general pushes back on Trump’s new rules on trans care for kids

(The Center Square) - California Attorney General Rob Bonta is pushing back on President Donald Trump’s proposed rules on gender-affirming care for minors.

The new Medicaid and CHIP Reimbursement Rule would block both federally-funded health care programs from paying for gender-affirming care for minors. Under the new rules, funds can’t pay for that care for patients under age 18 who get Medicare and for those under 19 benefitting from the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

And according to the California Department of Justice, the new “Condition of Participation” rule would keep medical providers who offer gender-affirming care from participating in Medicare and Medicaid programs. Bonta’s office argued that offering medical care to cisgender individuals - those who identify as the sex they were assigned at birth - and not providing medical care to transgender individuals is discriminatory.

Bonta said the Trump administration was trying to strip Americans of essential care that allows transgender people to live as “their authentic selves."

“These rules are not only cruel, they’re also unlawful,” Bonta said in a news release Thursday. “It’s important to note these proposals are far from final. If the Trump administration puts forth final rules similar to these proposals, we stand ready to use every tool in our toolbox to prevent them from ever going into effect.”

California Department of Justice staff were not available Friday to talk to The Center Square.

“Today the federal government made clear its plans to restrict access to this essential and lifesaving health care,” read a joint statement from several state agencies: the Department of Managed Health Care, the Department of Health Care Services, the Health & Human Services Agency and the Department of Public Health. Also signing onto the statement was Dr. Erica Pan, the state’s public health officer.

“When youth and adults can access health care, their quality of life improves and rates of depression, distress, and suicide decrease," according to the statement. "This care is consistent with nationally recognized, evidence-based clinical practice guidelines.”

Officials from the California Department of Managed Health Care and the California Department of Public Health referred The Center Square to the joint press release on Friday. Officials from the California Health & Human Services Agency were not available on Friday.

“Children should not be pawns in a game of political chess, and I will not accept their false choice of health care funding or providing gender affirming care,” said Assemblymember Mia Bonta, D-Oakland and chair of the Assembly Health Committee, in a Dec. 19 press release. “California will continue to stand up for our families, and this Legislature will lead with compassion and stay focused on kitchen-table issues, not anti-trans legislation that has been linked to increased suicide among LGBTQ youth.”

Assemblymember Bonta was not available for an interview on Friday.

Other Democratic and Republican legislators who sit on health or insurance committees were not available before press time on Friday.

The Los Angeles LGBT Center criticized the Trump Administration’s efforts to cut down on gender-affirming care for youth, calling the move cruel and demanding that the federal government withdraw the proposed rules.

“Let’s be clear: These rules are dangerous for all Americans and the consequences of approving them would be devastating,” officials from the Los Angeles LGBT Center said in a statement issued on Thursday. “They ignore overwhelming medical evidence backing the benefits of gender-affirming care for transgender youth and politicize health care decisions that should remain between families and their medical providers.”

Representatives from the Los Angeles LGBT Center declined to answer questions and directed The Center Square to Thursday's press release.