Oppose HHS Rules Threatening Transgender Youth Healthcare Access

I am writing to urge you to oppose the two proposed rules released by the Department of Health and Human Services on December 18, 2025, that would effectively eliminate transgender youth healthcare nationwide. These rules represent an unprecedented federal overreach that contradicts established medical science and threatens the wellbeing of vulnerable young people in our community. Unlike typical funding restrictions, these rules would make NOT providing gender-affirming care a condition of participation in Medicare and Medicaid programs entirely. Any hospital offering puberty blockers, hormones, or surgery to transgender youth would risk losing all federal healthcare funding, regardless of how the care is paid for. This coercive approach has already caused more than 40 hospitals to preemptively halt care, including Rady Children's Health in California, which discontinued treatment for nearly 1,500 patients, and Children's Hospital Colorado, which stopped care for hundreds of patients. The Transgender Law Center has emphasized that right now, there is no ban—hospitals are complying with threats rather than actual legal requirements. HHS Secretary Kennedy's declaration that gender-affirming care for youth does not meet professionally recognized standards of health care directly contradicts the positions of the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Endocrine Society. These organizations regard gender-affirming care as evidence-based treatment for adolescents when clinically appropriate. HHS General Counsel Mike Stuart has referred Seattle Children's Hospital, Children's Hospital Colorado, and Children's Minnesota to the inspector general for investigation, despite these facilities operating in states where such care is legal. The rules contain no exceptions for patients already receiving care, forcing transgender youth currently in treatment to face medical detransition. This is not healthcare policy—it is using federal funding as a weapon to override state law and medical expertise. I urge you to publicly oppose these rules and work to prevent their implementation.