Goe v. US Department of Health and Human Services

Every child deserves the opportunity to be happy and healthy, and every parent should have the freedom to work with their child’s doctor to make decisions about the care that is right for them. 

GLAD Law, NCLR, and ACLU of NH are asking a federal court to stop a Trump administration rule that will take medical care away from transgender youth in low-income families.

We are filing on behalf of four New Hampshire teenagers and their families. These are kids who are already in treatment. Their families made these medical decisions with their doctors, based on careful assessment of their children’s medical needs.

But on October 13, the Trump administration plans to pull the funding for these kids’ health care mid-treatment, with no plan for what happens to them. Stopping treatment abruptly, against the judgment of these children’s own parents and doctors, will hurt these kids. 

The Trump administration is targeting families that are struggling in this challenging economy. Trump is telling families: if you can’t afford to pay out-of-pocket, your children will have to go without the care they need. 

Not only is this rule cruel, but it is also illegal. Congress created the Medicaid program 50 years ago, and the regulations governing Medicaid say that it can’t deny a covered service because of a patient’s diagnosis. But that’s exactly what this rule does.

More than 90% of the public comments submitted about this rule opposed it. The law says the government must engage with this evidence, not wave it away, before implementing any new regulation. But the Trump administration ignored both the people’s voice and the law, and forged ahead anyway.

We’re asking the court to stop this rule and protect these families and their children.