Follow the Money: The Financial Choke Point That Could Shut Down Pediatric Gender Medicine
Why the administration’s funding leverage may succeed where state bans and federal bills stalled
In a news conference this morning, Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. signed a declaration that proposed removing medical providers from Medicare and Medicaid entirely if they offer gender transition interventions to minors.
Not just for those services.
For all services.
That matters because Medicare and Medicaid are the largest healthcare payers in the country. Hospitals, clinics, and physician groups do not survive without federal reimbursement. If forced to choose between providing pediatric transition care or staying solvent, most institutions will not hesitate.
This is not a ban in name.
It is a ban in practice.
What is happening right now is not just a cultural fight or a symbolic gesture. It is a financial choke point. And if finalized, it could effectively dismantle pediatric gender transition medicine in the United States without passing a single nationwide ban.
The fede…
