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National News
Extreme new Trump admin rules threaten to shutter even more hospitals
A pair of extreme new Trump administration rules aimed at functionally banning gender-affirming healthcare for transgender youth could force even more hospitals to close down.
NPR reported Thursday that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) drafted a proposed rule that would prohibit federal Medicaid reimbursement for medical care provided to transgender patients younger than 18 and prohibit the same from the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for patients under 19.
Another proposed rule goes even further, blocking all Medicaid and Medicare funding to hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to youth.
As Erin Reed, an independent journalist who reports on LGBTQ+ rights, explained, this “would effectively eliminate access to such care nationwide, except at the few private clinics able to forgo Medicaid entirely, a rarity in transgender youth medicine.”
The policies are of a piece with the Trump administration and the broader Republican Party’s efforts to eliminate transgender healthcare for youth across the country.
Bans on gender-affirming care for those under 18 have already been passed in 27 states, despite evidence that early access to treatments like puberty blockers and hormones can save lives.
As Reed pointed out, a Cornell University review of more than 51 studies shows that access to such care dramatically reduces the risk of suicide and the rates of anxiety and depression among transgender adolescents.
The new HHS rules are being prepared for public release in November and would not be finalized for several more months.
But if passed, the ramifications could extend far beyond transgender people, impacting the entire healthcare system, for which federal funding from Medicare and Medicaid is a load-bearing piece. According to a report last year from the American Hospital Association, 96% of hospitals in the US have more than half their inpatient days paid for by Medicare and Medicaid.
It is already becoming apparent what happens when even some of that funding is taken away. As a result of the massive GOP budget law passed in July, an estimated $1 trillion is expected to be cut from Medicaid over the next decade. According to an analysis released Thursday by Protect Our Care, which maintains a Hospital Crisis Watch database, more than 500 healthcare providers across the country are already at risk of shutting down due to the budget cuts.
Tyler Hack, the executive director of the Christopher Street Project, a transgender rights organization, said that the newly proposed HHS rule would be “forcing hospitals to choose between providing lifesaving care for trans people or maintaining the ability to serve patients through Medicare and Medicaid.”
“Today’s news marks a dangerous overreach by the executive branch, pitting trans people, low-income families, disabled people, and seniors against each other and making hospitals choose which vulnerable populations to serve,” Hack said. “If these rules become law, it will kill people.”
National News
MAGA host panics over big Dem election wins: ‘I’m afraid our midterms will look like this’
Pro-MAGA host Gina Loudon feared Republicans would lose in the midterms after Democrats dominated election night on Tuesday.
Loudon spoke on Real America's Voice about the election results following President Donald Trump's address to Republican senators on Wednesday.
"Yeah, first of all, I think it was nice to see a president that was so presidential, as he stayed very calm, he didn't really respond to any of the silliness of Mamdani, all the rest of it," she explained. "So that was nice to see."
"I think that the consensus is, I'm looking through our chat," Loudon continued. "And I think that, to put it very succinctly, President Trump, being president, is a huge job. That's obviously an understatement. He has spent a lot of time looking out at the world and trying to fix things. I think it is time to come home and to focus on our, especially our economy."
According to the host, "People are feeling completely disabled economically."
"And if we don't come home and focus on our domestic issues, I'm afraid our midterms will look like this," she added.
Correspondent David Zere agreed.
"And the foreign policy is critical," he said. "But people can't survive. "Lettuce is still $3 a head in the supermarket."
"And Trump's economic agenda has not kicked in yet," Zere insisted. "But people can't wait, and that's exactly what Mamdani took advantage on yesterday in New York City."
Loudon argued that Republicans were losing elections because they were "letting [Democrats] label us as these, you know, awful, selfish capitalists."
"And the difference between a tyrant and Donald Trump is, yes, Donald Trump is wealthy, but he wants every American to be wealthy. He said it many times. He's working for it every single day. And I think it's going to take more than nine months to get it done," she remarked.
