A Pennsylvania Senate committee has tacked on an anti-transgender amendment to a bill aimed at renewing the state’s Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, through 2019. If the bill is not approved by Dec. 31, the entire CHIP program will lapse.
As a result, lawmakers in the Keystone State may be forced to approve a ban on providing health care for transgender youth in order to salvage the program for an estimated 176,000 children across the state, whose parents make too much money to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to purchase private insurance.
The amendment, sponsored by State Sen. Donald White (R-Indiana), would prohibit CHIP from covering the costs of any services related to gender transition.
Specifically, the amendment states: “The benefit package for eligible children may not include reimbursement for gender or sex reassignment surgery or gender or sex transition services, including, but not limited to, physician’s services, inpatient and outpatient hospital services, prescribed drugs or counseling services related to such surgery or services.”
“It is completely inappropriate to use state funds to pay for sex change operations for children,” White said in a statement. “This program provides vital health care services for Pennsylvania’s children. It is irresponsible to allow its limited resources to be used for sex change procedures.”
But while White is obsessed with the idea that doctors will be green-lighting young children for gender confirmation surgery en masse, the wording of the amendment is so vague and overly broad that it could potentially be used to deny other types of medically necessary care to transgender youth.
For example, depending on how the state interprets “gender or sex transition services” and “medications,” the prohibition could be used to prevent doctors from prescribing puberty blockers, hormones, or non-surgical treatments for gender dysphoria to transgender children who get their insurance through CHIP.
Additionally, as the progressive website ThinkProgress notes, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health recommends in its standards of care that youth should only undergo gender confirmation surgery after they reach the age of medical consent, which is 18 in Pennsylvania. While CHIP provides coverage up to an individual’s 19th birthday, the number of transgender youth who 1) qualify for CHIP; 2) actually opt for surgery; and 3) fall between the ages of 18 and 19 makes them a minority within a minority.
Thus, the language of White’s amendment — depending on how it is interpreted by government bureaucrats — could punish a larger number of transgender youth by denying them care, based on an unsubstantiated fear that a handful of 18-year-olds might opt for surgery. For instance, the state could refuse to cover a transgender youth’s regular doctor checkups, prescriptions, and even their ability to access mental health services or counseling if they deem such things to be “related” to gender transition.
The original version of the CHIP reauthorization bill, without the transgender prohibition, unanimously passed the state House in June. Last week, the GOP-led Senate Banking and Insurance Committee approved the anti-transgender amendment on a party-line vote. The amended CHIP legislation was subsequently approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday. The bill now heads to the full Senate for approval.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania blasted the amendment for being both divisive and discriminatory.
“Transgender youth, including those who participate in CHIP, deserve access to healthcare,” Reggie Shuford, the executive director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, said in a statement. “In fact, the CHIP statute demands that the program covers all medically necessary care. The treatments that can’t be covered under this bill, such as counseling and hormone therapy, are medically necessary and sometimes life-saving for transgender youth.”
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s (D) office has expressed opposition to the amendment and called for Republican lawmakers in Harrisburg to pass a clean CHIP reauthorization bill. However, it is not clear whether Wolf would be willing to veto the bill should it reach his desk, as such a move could potentially torpedo the popular program altogether.
“The only amendment that has been added to the CHIP renewal bill is one that will harm transgender youth,” Naiymah Sanchez, the transgender advocacy coordinator at the ACLU of Pennsylvania, added. “Trans kids shouldn’t be used as a political ploy.”
Last month, the Indian River School Board voted to remove Ban This Book, by Alan Gratz, from its shelves, overriding its own Florida district book-review committee's decision rejecting a challenge to the book.
The children's novel follows a fictional fourth-grade student who creates a secret library of banned books in her locker after her local school board bans those titles.
Indian River School Board members said they disliked how it referenced other books that have been removed from schools and accused it of "teaching rebellion of school board authority."
New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu signed a bill preventing transgender girls in grades 5-12 from participating on female-designated sports teams.
He declared that the measure "ensures fairness and safety in women's sports" by prohibiting transgender females from competing against cisgender females, against whom they may have a physiological and competitive advantage.
New Hampshire is the 25th state to impose a restriction on transgender athlete participation.
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire, along with the national organization GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), criticized the law, which requires student-athletes to show a birth certificate or "other evidence" to prove their gender identity aligns with their assigned sex at birth.
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take up a case involving the question of whether states can enforce laws prohibiting transgender youth from accessing gender-affirming treatments, such as puberty blockers or hormone therapy.
On Monday, June 24, the high court granted certiorari in the case of LW v. Skrmetti, a lawsuit challenging the state of Tennessee's ban.
The lawsuit was signed into law by Republican Governor Bill Lee in March 2023.
It claims the ban:
Violates transgender teens' right to equal protection under the law.
Violates the right of their parents to make decisions regarding the care, custody, and control of their children.
Runs afoul of a section of the Affordable Care Act that prohibits discrimination based on sex, including sexual orientation and gender identity.
A federal judge initially blocked the law from taking effect, but Tennessee appealed the ruling and asked that it be reversed.
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