Report blames Biden rules for pushing gender transitions on children

A new Department of Health and Human Services report accuses hospitals of pushing gender transition procedures on children under Biden-era policies that turned young patients into what the report calls “captive patients” needing lifelong medical care.

The report, titled “Wolves in White Coats,” says financial incentives fueled the surge in pediatric gender transitions, with hospitals billing nearly $120 million for the procedures since 2019. It places much of the blame on the Biden administration, which expanded Obamacare’s nondiscrimination policy to cover gender identity and endorsed puberty blockers as reversible and hormone therapy as “partially reversible.”

The report also details detransitioners’ accounts. Many said they struggled with abuse or undiagnosed mental health problems, but doctors treated transition as the only option and never offered alternatives.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has referred more than 200 medical entities to the HHS inspector general for further investigation. Vice President J.D. Vance is asking the Justice Department to look into possible insurance fraud.

“Hospitals and providers may have been defrauding Medicaid and private insurers,” Mr. Vance said.

A new federal rule barring Medicaid and CHIP funds from covering these procedures for children takes effect Oct. 13, though it allows a phaseout period for some hormone treatments already underway.

The Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy group, condemned the report. HRC President Kelley Robinson called the effort “barbaric” and said real families are suffering.

Read more:

• Feds accuse hospitals of making money from bogus gender-transition treatments