Idaho governor signs bill banning use of public funds for gender-affirming care

Transgender people in Idaho will no longer have access to Medicaid or other publicly funded programs to help pay for gender-affirming medical care under a new state law scheduled to go into effect in July.

Republican Gov. Brad Little quietly signed the bill Wednesday, a day after receiving it from the Republican-controlled Idaho Legislature. Little’s office did not respond to requests for comment.

The law, scheduled to go into effect on July 1, prohibits the use of public funds for puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries for transgender minors and adults, and prohibits government-owned facilities from using them. It is also prohibited to provide them.

Those who knowingly violate the law can be charged with misappropriation of public funds, punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 and imprisonment from one to 14 years.

Idaho joins a growing coalition of Republican-led states to ban Medicaid funding for gender-affirming care for transgender people of all ages. According to the movement promotion project, a nonprofit organization that tracks LGBTQ laws. Medicaid policies in three states explicitly exclude transition-related care for minors.

In June, a federal judge struck down a Florida rule that excluded gender-affirming health care from Medicaid coverage, writing in a 54-page opinion that Florida adopted the rule for “political reasons.” That same month, a federal judge in Arkansas blocked the state from banning gender-affirming care for minors, including in the state’s Medicaid program.

Little has said several times in the past that he doesn’t think public funds should be used for gender-affirming care. In a May letter to the Idaho Department of Health and Human Services, Little said he opposes the use of Medicaid funds for puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries for transgender children and adults. Ta.

“Hardworking taxpayers should not be forced to pay for adult gender reassignment surgery,” he wrote.

In April, Idaho signed a bill that makes it a felony for health care providers to provide gender-affirming care to minors. In a letter to House leadership, Little wrote that while it is important for him as a lawmaker to protect minors from “surgeries and treatments that can cause irreparable damage to healthy bodies,” he “doesn’t do what he loves. Great care must always be taken when considering allowing government intervention in Parents and their decisions about what is best for their children. ”

A federal judge in December temporarily blocked the state from taking effect on the ban. In February, Idaho appealed this decision to the Supreme Court.