Press Release: 9/3/2026
AG Campbell Co-Leads Lawsuit Challenging Trump Administration's Latest Attack On Healthcare For Transgender Youth
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
9/02/2026
BOSTON — Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell today co-led a coalition of 22 states in challenging the Trump Administration’s attempt to prohibit states from using federal Medicaid funds for gender-affirming care for low-income minors and some young adults.
“The Trump Administration’s latest attack on access to gender-affirming care for young people unlawfully undermines states’ authority to regulate healthcare and tries to strip healthcare access from vulnerable kids,” said AG Campbell. “Gender-affirming care remains legal and protected in Massachusetts, and we will not allow the federal government to dictate what care our patients receive. I will continue to challenge these unlawful actions and use every tool at my disposal to defend the rights of transgender young people and their families.”
Since the 1960s, Congress has granted states the authority to determine which services would be covered under their Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) programs, subject only to limits set by statute. In the lawsuit, the coalition asserts that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) are now acting without statutory authority or a reasoned basis to second-guess state Medicaid agencies’ reliance on individualized medical necessity and treatment decisions made by healthcare providers. Instead, based solely on CMS’s unilateral decision-making, HHS and CMS are categorically excluding medically necessary healthcare services from federal reimbursement only when provided to low-income transgender adolescents.
The rule at the center of the lawsuit was first proposed in December 2025 and would prohibit federal reimbursement for gender-affirming care for Medicaid beneficiaries under age 18 and CHIP beneficiaries under age 19, despite covering the same healthcare treatment when provided to non-transgender youth. In response to the proposal, HHS received more than 30,000 comments. More than 90% of the comments, including comments from AG Campbell and a coalition of state attorneys general, opposed the rule. Despite this strong opposition, the broad medical consensus on the safety and efficacy of transgender youth healthcare, and strong state law guardrails to ensure high-quality care, HHS finalized the rule earlier this month, with an effective date of Oct. 13, 2026.
In their complaint, AG Campbell and the coalition argue that the rule would set a troubling and unlawful precedent that the executive branch can, without congressional authorization, replace individualized judgments made by licensed medical practitioners with a categorical, agency-determined prohibition on reimbursement for healthcare it disfavors.
The coalition argues that the rule runs counter to several federal and state laws. They also assert that the rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act and the Spending Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Since the first day of President Trump’s second term, the Administration has launched relentless attacks on transgender young people in nearly every aspect of their lives, but especially in healthcare. In response, AG Campbell has consistently used the tools of her office to protect the rights of Massachusetts residents. In April, AG Campbell won a lawsuit blocking the Trump Administration’s unlawful attempt to threaten healthcare providers that provide care for youth with gender dysphoria. In August, AG Campbell and a multi-state coalition successfully blockedthe Trump Administration’s attempt to make gender-affirming care more expensive and less accessible under the Affordable Care Act.
Joining AG Campbell in filing today’s lawsuit are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin, along with the governor of Pennsylvania.
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