Vermont leaders: Protect access to gender-affirming care

Protecting trans youth has never been more important.

All of us deserve to access health care without fear or shame, and to decide with our doctors what care is right for us. But for transgender people in our community, access to essential health care is under attack. Targeting transgender people is a key part of the president's broader attempt to seize power and take away our freedoms – he's banking on bullying our communities into compliance with his backwards agenda.

The president knows he doesn't have the power to unilaterally ban gender-affirming care, so instead, his administration is trying to change the rules for receiving Medicare and Medicaid funding and bully our communities into discriminating against trans kids. This move threatens health care access for everyone unless our communities abandon trans youth – and that is not an option. In the coming year, the Vermont legislature will need to take action to protect access to gender affirming care to youth across our state.

Vermont needs to uphold its commitment to provide life-affirming health care for all members of our community – and lawmakers need to hear from you.

Although the potential rule changes appear to be yet another attempt to erase transgender people from public life, Vermont's responsibility to provide access to affordable gender-affirming health care would not change if new federal Medicare and Medicaid rules that seek to ban it take effect. State law still requires that Vermont Medicaid and private insurers cover gender-affirming care and makes it illegal for health care providers to discriminate against transgender patients in deciding what care to offer.

However, one of the proposed rules asks our health care institutions to choose between discriminating against trans patients or losing significant funding. This is an illegal and unconscionable use of federal funding pressure. But to ensure that access to care is maintained while these rules are challenged, it's up to our state leaders to develop and support creative alternatives to delivering accessible and affordable care.

Trans youth are valued members of our community who are deserving of inclusion, care, and celebration. It's our collective responsibility to condemn these dangerous and discriminatory attacks and affirm that the rights, dignity, and humanity of trans youth are not up for debate. We urge you to contact your legislators and ask them to re-commit to preserving protections for essential health care for transgender people.