Florida Discourages Gender-Affirming Care for Minors

metroweekly.com:

Tampa Bay Times the guidance is not enforced by the state, but offers and explains recommendations to families and health care providers.“Physicians may use guidance from different authoritative sources, including government entities and professional associations, in determining the best course of treatment for their patients,” she said in a statement.In March, the U.S.

Department of Health and Human Services issued an “information memorandum” urging states to use their child welfare systems to protect and support LGBTQI+ youth, and informing agencies that gender-affirming care is a valid form of medically necessary treatment for transgender youth suffering from gender dysphoria.

HHS also released guidance making clear that denials of medically necessary health care based on a person’s gender identity are illegal under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, as is restricting doctors from providing such care or prescribing gender-affirming treatments for youth struggling with gender dysphoria.Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo accused HHS of publishing its guidance for political and not medical reasons.

The federal guidance links to several academic studies and research papers, which were completed by organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics — but the Florida Department of Health released a “fact sheet” disputing the findings of those studies. “The federal government’s medical establishment releasing guidance failing at the most basic level of academic rigor shows that this was never about health care,” Ladapo wrote. “It was about injecting political ideology into the health of our children.”But LGBTQ rights organization Equality Florida said that it is the DeSantis administration who is playing.