Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall filed an amicus brief with 16 other states supporting Florida’s healthcare regulation that denies Medicaid coverage for so-called gender transitioning procedures.
After commissioning a comprehensive review of the medical literature, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration determined the available scientific evidence does not support the use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and reassignment surgeries as safe and effective treatments for gender dysphoria.
“Protecting our children from these life-altering and damaging treatments continues to be our priority. And for many of the same reasons why kids should not be subjected to these treatments, the use of taxpayer dollars on these experimental medical interventions is unacceptable," Marshall said in a statement on Monday. "That is why I am steadfast in my support of Florida’s reasonable regulation. We must help these vulnerable children, but we cannot exacerbate this problem with off-label and radical treatments that have yet to be studied for their long-term consequences.”
While the plaintiffs challenging Florida’s regulation relied heavily on medical interest groups to argue that transitioning treatments are supported by medical opinion, Alabama’s brief states that these groups are at odds with European governmental healthcare authorities that have, like Florida, openly assessed the evidence base for the treatments. After doing so, the brief notes, healthcare authorities in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Finland and Norway all “called for drastically curtailing the availability of transitioning treatments for minors.”
The brief also argues that medical interest groups such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) operate as self-interested advocacy organizations when it comes to transitioning treatments.
The brief highlighted a number of episodes that reveal that these medical organizations have suppressed dissent and rebuffed calls from doctors for a transparent review of their policies.
“The interest groups do not represent ‘medical opinion’ just an outspoken slice of it,” the brief concludes.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email caleb.taylor@1819News.com.
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