Oz Tells States Not To Use Medicaid For Gender-Affirming Care

The Hill: Trump Administrations Tells States Medicaid Funds Cannot Be Used For Gender-Affirming Care
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is urging states to not use Medicaid funds for gender-affirming care for minors, specifically gender reassignment surgeries or hormone treatments. “As a doctor and now CMS Administrator, my top priority is protecting children and upholding the law,” Mehmet Oz, the recently confirmed agency head, said in a statement Friday. (O’Connell-Domenech, 4/11)

KVPR: White House Orders NIH To Research Trans 'Regret' And 'Detransition'
The Trump administration has ordered the National Institutes of Health to study the physical and mental health effects of undergoing gender transition, including regret. The research comes at a time when the administration has cut hundreds of grants for research into health issues affecting the LGBTQ community. (Stein, 4/11)

The Washington Post: Trump Health Nominee Called For ‘Corrective Care’ For Trans Youth
President Donald Trump’s pick for a top health post has called for transgender youth to undergo “corrective care” instead of transitioning and has repeated conspiracy theories about the covid-19 pandemic, according to a Washington Post review of his podcast and radio appearances. Brian Christine, a 61-year-old Alabama urologist, would succeed former U.S. assistant secretary for health Rachel Levine, who made history during the Biden administration when she became the highest ranking openly transgender federal government official. (Nirappil, 4/12)

KFF Health News: Families Of Transgender Youth No Longer View Colorado As A Haven For Gender-Affirming Care
On a Friday after school, 6-year-old Esa Rodrigues had unraveled a ball of yarn, spooked the pet cat, polled family members about their favorite colors, and tattled on a sibling for calling her a “butt-face mole rat.” Next, she was laser-focused on prying open cherry-crisp-flavored lip gloss with her teeth. “Yes!” she cried, twisting open the cap. Esa applied the gloopy, shimmery stuff in her bedroom, where a large transgender pride flag hung on the wall. Esa said the flag makes her feel “important” and “happy.” (Bichell, 4/14)

On disabilities and autism —

NPR: Students With Disabilities Lost A Helpful Program To DOGE Cuts
If you visit the website for Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), you'll find a "Wall of Receipts" listing more than 7,000 federal contracts it has terminated. Little detail is provided, besides the "savings" from each cancellation, and it's hard to determine the cost or collateral damage of all these cuts. But for some families, there has been a cost. (Turner, 4/14)

The New York Times: Experts Doubt Kennedy’s Timetable For Finding The Cause Of Autism
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s health secretary, pledged on Thursday to seek out experts globally to discover the reasons for the increasing rates of autism in the United States. “We’ve launched a massive testing and research effort that’s going to involve hundreds of scientists from around the world,” Mr. Kennedy announced at a cabinet meeting held by President Trump. “By September, we will know what has caused the autism epidemic and we’ll be able to eliminate those exposures.” (Jewett, 4/11)

The Hill: Autism Society Says RFK Jr.'s Comments 'Unrealistic And Misleading'
Leadership at The Autism Society of America is pushing back against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s recent pledge to find the cause of autism spectrum disorder. Kennedy promised to launch a “massive testing and research effort” on Thursday to figure out what has caused the “autism epidemic” by September. “We find that unrealistic and misleading,” President and CEO of The Autism Society of America Christopher Banks told The Hill. ... It is unclear who will lead the new testing and research effort and what methodology will be used in the process.  (O’Connell-Domenech, 4/11)

The Hill: Former FDA Vaccine Chief On RFK Jr. And Autism Cause: Giving People False Hope Is ‘Wrong’
Former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks weighed in on Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s remarks about finding a cause of autism, saying giving people false hope is “wrong.” Marks joined CBS News’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday, where host Margaret Brennan asked him about Kennedy’s claim that the world will find the cause of the “autism epidemic” by September. (Irwin, 4/13)

On immigrant health care —

The Washington Post: Exclusive: Trump Administration Overrode Social Security Staff To List Immigrants As Dead
A senior executive who objected was marched out of his office and put on leave, while earlier warnings about the agency’s deaths database were ignored. (Natanson, Rein and Kornfield, 4/12)