WASHINGTON — The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced major initiatives on Thursday designed to stop hospitals from offering sex change procedures for minors.
Two new proposed rules will prohibit Medicaid dollars from funding sex-change procedures for minors and restrict Medicare and Medicaid-participating hospitals from performing these procedures on minors.
“The Trump Administration will not stand by while ideology, misinformation and propaganda push vulnerable young people into decisions they cannot fully understand and that they can never reverse,” Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said.
The rules are among six actions announced during a Thursday press conference. Kennedy signed a declaration stating that “sex-rejecting procedures are neither safe nor effective treatment for children.”
“This is not medicine,” he said. “It is malpractice.”
The HHS is also reversing the Biden administration’s designation of gender dysphoria as a disability.
“Our proposal will reassure recipients of HHS funding that policies preventing or limiting sex-rejecting procedures will not violate disability nondiscrimination requirements,” Kennedy said.
“There is divine worth in every person, and it shines most brightly in our children,” Kennedy continued. “That worth demands us to protect it.”
FDA COMMISSIONER DR. MAKARY: “I’m going to say what you’re not supposed to say: pushing transgender ideology in children is predatory, it’s wrong, and it needs to stop.” pic.twitter.com/bhWl43zNsx
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) December 18, 2025
FDA COMMISSIONER DR. MAKARY: “I’m going to say what you’re not supposed to say: pushing transgender ideology in children is predatory, it’s wrong, and it needs to stop.” The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) likewise sent letters Thursday to 12 manufacturers of breast binders warning them about enforcement actions that could come from illegal marketing of these products for treating gender dysphoria.
“One of the most barbaric features of a society is the genital mutilation of its children,” FDA Commissioner Martin Makary said.
“These binders are not benign,” Makary said. “Long-term usage has been associated with pain, compromised lung function from atelectasis collapse and even difficulty breastfeeding later in life.” The HHS released a review in May highlighting the lack of evidence for the “gender-affirming” model of care.
“We will fix the codes if we can fix the kids,” @DrOz says in response to my question about creating medical billing codes for detransitioners.
“There is no infrastructure that is prepared for the thousands of patients who regret this and have been harmed and will continue to… pic.twitter.com/mqkqpp5oRd
— Katelynn Richardson (@katesrichardson) December 18, 2025
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz affirmed he is looking at billing codes for detransitioners in response to a question from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“We’re looking at the billing code situation. there’s probably codes we can use already,” he said. “We will fix the codes if we can fix the kids.”
“There is no infrastructure that is prepared for the thousands of patients who regret this and have been harmed and will continue to be harmed until this is stopped,” detransitioner Chloe Cole said.
The House voted to pass a bill on Wednesday criminalizing child sex change procedures.
Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who attended the HHS announcement, told the DCNF that the administration is helping with his efforts to look into medicaid fraud by doctors providing child sex-change procedures. Paxton sued two doctors Dec. 10 for fraudulently billing Texas Medicaid for “gender transition” drugs that they administered to minors in violation of state law.
“We’re going to get damages for the state for the fraud that we’ve seen, where these doctors try to hide what they’re doing,” Paxton said.
Do No Harm president Stanley Goldfarb said the proposed rule banning hospitals from performing child sex changes “is common sense, evidence-based, and morally imperative.”
“Many so-called gender clinics have already begun to close as the truth about the risks and long-term harms about these drugs and surgeries on minors have been exposed,” Goldfarb said in a statement. “Now, hospitals that receive taxpayer funds from these federal programs must follow suit.”
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].
