On Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit took its continuing attacks on gender-affirming care for transgender people a step further in this country.
More than a dozen U.S. states currently ban or limit Medicaid coverage of gender-affirming care, but the Fourth Circuit has become the first federal appellate court to enforce this type of law, according to one report. Reported by Reuters. The decision follows a Supreme Court ruling last year. USA vs. Scumetti The case rejected a challenge to Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming treatment for minors.
The decision was handed down unanimously by a three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, overturning a previous judge’s 2024 ruling that the law violated anti-discrimination protections under federal law and the Constitution. Defending the first-of-its-kind ruling, a 4th Circuit panel said the law does not unlawfully discriminate against transgender people because it applies to specific procedures rather than specific individuals.
All three justices on the panel were appointed by Republican presidents (two by President Trump and one by George Bush Sr.), who dissented in 2024 when a majority of the 4th Circuit declared the West Virginia law invalid. in 35 page document Regarding this decision, the Commission expressed the same legality as in the case of the 2024 case.
“It is not unreasonable for Congress to encourage the public to appreciate their sex and not to despise it by refusing to fund an experimental procedure that may have the opposite effect,” wrote Judge Julius Richardson, a Trump appointee.
The specific types of surgeries that West Virginia law seeks to exclude from Medicaid coverage include changing physical characteristics to match gender identity, such as breast reconstruction, genital changes, and facial surgery.
West Virginia Republican Attorney General John McCaskey added that the state should not be responsible for paying for “unproven, non-essential medical procedures.”
“Every dollar spent on these unproven procedures takes away funds that could be used to treat cancer, heart disease and diabetes,” McCaskey said.
Source: Advocate.com – www.advocate.com
