Massachusetts has committed to preserving access to gender-affirming care for transgender youth after the Trump administration barred federal Medicaid funding for such treatment for people under 18. The state will draw on its $8.5 million Affirming Health Care Trust to help cover treatments like puberty blockers and hormone therapy for MassHealth recipients. About 550 Massachusetts youth were recently receiving these treatments through MassHealth, although the state has not yet estimated how much replacing federal funding will cost. Massachusetts is the first state that is directly filling the funding gaps caused by increasing federal restrictions on transgender youth’s healthcare. And yet, despite Massachusetts’ commitment to trans rights, trans youth activists still find themselves organizing to defend and guarantee affordable access to gender-affirming care.
Barriers to Gender Affirming Care Can Exist in Blue States Too
