In an official letter sent to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, Gov.or Brad Little said he doesn’t think state Medicaid should pay for gender-affirming care for adults.
In the letter, Little stated he opposed using Medicaid funds for gender-affirming surgeries, hormones or puberty blockers for trans patients. Medicaid is the state-funded health insurance that covers low-income residents.
His opinion is responding to a lawsuit by two individuals who accuse Medicaid of discrimination after administrators declined to cover their gender-affirming surgeries.
Little wrote “hardworking taxpayers should not be forced to pay for an adult’s sex reassignment surgery,” adding there was evidence those procedures were not medically necessary nor beneficial to trans patients’ mental health. Little did not cite the evidence he was referring to in the letter.
Decades of medical studieshave shown that access to gender-affirming care improves the mental health and overall well-being of trans people, while significantly reducing risks of suicide among youth and young adults.
State guidelines and Medicaid documents currently have no explicit policies on best practices for trans healthcare. In April, Little signed into law HouseBill 71 that bans gender-affirming healthcare for transgender minors, which will go into effect in 2024.
