Florida Ruling Corrects Trans Medicine Misinformation
The Ruth Institute applauds the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration’s ruling that evidence supporting trans medical procedures is "weak" to "very weak."
This means Florida's Medicaid program will not pay for these procedures. Contrary to media reports, this ruling does not ban or make these treatments crimes.
"The claim that thousands of young people already receiving trans treatments will be 'involuntarily detransitioned' is false,” noted Ruth Institute president, Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, Ph.D. “People can continue their treatment if they wish.”
“However, the taxpayers of Florida will no longer be paying for these treatments through Medicaid. Individuals who are paying, or whose insurance is paying, for their treatment, will not be prohibited from obtaining or continuing that treatment."
The report, which included scientific studies and testimony from medical experts, did not find sufficient evidence to support hormone replacement therapy, puberty blockers, and sex reassignment surgery. The report further noted the lack of long term, follow-up studies and randomized control trials.
"The report by Dr. Quentin Van Meter was particularly striking,” Morse said. “After cataloguing the unknown risks associated with brain development, bone density, and other factors, the President of the American College of Pediatricians stated wryly, 'It is very difficult to imagine ethical controlled clinical trials that could elucidate the effects of delaying puberty until the age of consent.'"
Florida now joins the UK, Sweden, Finland, and Australia in contesting the wildly inflated claims that these medical interventions are necessary and harmless.
Morse concluded, "We have heard numerous stories of young people being stampeded into these life-altering interventions with little or no attempts at less invasive solutions to their problems. The Florida ruling may prove significant for future malpractice claims against doctors who advise these treatments without due caution."
Read the release here: https://ruthinstitute.org/press/florida-ruling-corrects-trans-medicine-misinformation
