The HHS is trying to take HRT from trans folks via the ACA's Essential Health Benefits list.

The HHS, led by vaccine denier RFK JR, is now trying to remove gender affirming care from the ACA's essential health benefits list.

Photo courtesy: Folx Health

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The Trump administration is now trying to take gender affirming care off of the ACA’s list of Essential Health Benefits. Now, what are the the Essential Health Benefits, I hear you ask? Put simply, the Essential Health Benefits are the 10 benefit categories that every health plan is required to cover.

Those ten things being:

(1) ambulatory patient services;

(2) emergency services;

(3) hospitalization;

(4) maternity and newborn care;

(5) mental health and substance use disorder services including behavioral health treatment;

(6) prescription drugs;

(7) rehabilitative and habilitative services and devices;

(8) laboratory services;

(9) preventive and wellness services and chronic disease management;

(10) pediatric services, including oral and vision care.

The Trump administration is now trying to propose that gender affirming care be taken off the list of things eligible for EHB, with them saying in the unreleased brief,

“On January 20, 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order 14168, “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” (E.O. 14168) that requires agencies to “take all necessary steps, as permitted by law, to end the Federal funding of gender ideology.” Then, on January 28, 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order 14187, “Protecting Children From Chemical and Surgical Mutilation” (E.O. 14187) that directs the Secretary of HHS to take all appropriate actions consistent with applicable law to end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children. The phrase “chemical and surgical mutilation” in E.O. 14187 means the use of puberty blockers, sex hormones, and surgical procedures that attempt to transform an individual's physical appearance to align with an identity that differs from his or her sex or that attempt to alter or remove an individual’s sexual organs to minimize or destroy their natural biological functions. As noted in the definition of “chemical and surgical mutilation” in E.O. 14187, this phrase sometimes is referred to as “gender affirming care,” and is referred to in this proposed rule as “sex-trait- modification.” For purposes of this definition, the term “sex” is a person’s immutable biological d). classification as either male or female; the term “female” is a person of the sex characterized by a reproductive system with the biological function of producing eggs (ova); and the term “male” is a person of the sex characterized by a reproductive system with the biological function of producing sperm.147 Because coverage of sex-trait modification is not typically included in employer-sponsored plans, and EHB must be equal in scope to a typical employer plan, we propose to add “sex-trait modification” to the list of items and services that may not be covered as EHB beginning in PY 2026.”

First off, you wrinkly orange fuck-face, sex and gender aren’t the same thing. I feel like I’m repeating myself here, but sex and gender are not the same thing.

And also, sex-trait- modification? Are you actually serious?

This will have a grim, and I mean grim affect on us. Majority of us that use HRT, that’s the stuff that keeps us going. I know I have cited this study before, but the US Transgender Survey’s Early finding report came out, and of all the people who responded (they surveyed everyone from all 50 states and territories), nearly all of them, when asked about how gender affirming care affected their life, said it affected them positively.

(Photo courtesy: US Transgender Survey)

On top of this, a study by the NIH released in 2022 further supporting this claim, with them finding that the odds of depression decreased by 60% and the odds of suicide decreased by 73% among teens that had gender affirming hormones or puberty blockers.

73%!

That shows that these medicines have a real and positive impact in our lives. Lives that will be severely ruined, or worse, if access to this drug is taken away. I am honestly sickened and angry at the fascist Red Nazi’s on the right, who want to eradicate us, that they see the impact these medicines have on our lives, and yet they still choose to do this? Why?

Because they want to eradicate us. That’s what all this is. A campaign of eradication. They want to stoke fear and force us back into the closet, because according to the Republican Party, or should I say Red Nazi’s, we are a “threat” and “indoctrinating children”.

Getting back to the directive itself, it is likely to meet court challenges, which is good, but, yeah, this is just grim. I don’t usually like to be grim, but this is just grim, especially for the members of the community that don’t live in sanctuary states.

For this bill to pass, it would need to run through the Administrative Procedure Act, which involves opening the directive to the public for comment. When that opens, comment on it. Tell the HHS, and the government by extension, why this bill will have a deeply negative impact on the lives of trans people.

Zooming out for a moment, I feel like we as a community need to realize that the Democratic Party is not going to come and save us. They voted for a bill that took away the healthcare for the trans children of service members, and they voted for a bill that gave a mega mushroom to Trump and co. We as a community can not just sit and wait for them to come and save us. They did pass the anti trans sports law, but they have not shown to be our valiant defenders, especially with Dems like Gavin Newsom, who invited not one, not two, but three transphobic guests onto his podcast.

I say this to say that if the Democratic Party can not show that they are our ardent defenders, which they haven’t, then the onus falls onto us as a community to keep them in line. Organize. Call your Senator and House Rep and tell them to not pass bills that will hurt you, hurt trans people all across the nation. And, if they don’t, don’t support that Senator or House Rep.

Hold them to account.

The reaction that people had at Chuck Schumer on Friday, which by the way, was totally warranted, is the same one we need to have at our lawmakers if they pass laws that are detrimental to their constituents. The Democratic Party just cant ignore the Red Nazi’s blatant attack on our community, or just swipe this off as a distraction. If they can’t defend us, they need to be primaried. Plain and simple. It’s like I said:

Trans rights, or get primaried.

Because their inaction, and in the case of Governor Newsom, blatant transphobia, isn’t helping us. It’s only giving the Red Nazi’s no resistance, and arguably making them bolder.

Like I said, this, along with every anti trans executive order or ordinance, whatever, is designed to stoke fear in us and force us back into the closet. The less resistance the Democratic Party gives to these bills, the more likely it is for them to keep getting bolder. Sure, the courts might hold them down, but for how long? And the Democratic Party has shown us that they are not our friend, so the onus fall on us in the LGBTQ community, and the Allies as well to hold our Senators and House Reps to account by organizing and telling them whenever an anti trans bill is up for debate:

Hey, if you pass this bill, the negative impact for us in the trans community is going to be huge.

The Party’s inaction does not equal just inaction.

Their inaction is acceptance.

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