Oregon Defies Trump’s Funding Ban, Keeps Transgender Care Programs Intact

Gender-affirming care for transgender people in Oregon is not expected to be affected despite President Donald Trump’s executive order to restrict funding for children and teenagers under 19.

The Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU), a leading U.S. care provider for transgender people, has confirmed that the federal order will not become effective immediately.

The OHSU provides a range of transgender services that include surgery and hormone therapy. The OHSU treats more than 6,000 pediatric and adult patients.

President Trump’s executive order targets surgical interventions and hormone therapies like puberty blockers and includes estrogen, androgen blockers, and testosterone treatments.

Legacy Health has also not made any changes to its gender-affirming care programs.

The only transgender treatments available in Oregon are at the OHSU’s Doernbecher Children’s Hospital and the Randall Children’s Hospital at Legacy Emanuel.

Oregon Hospitals Rely on Payments from Medicaid and Medicare

Apart from private insurance, both hospitals rely on Medicaid and Medicare payments.

The president’s executive order bans gender-transition treatments to minors at hospitals accepting Medicaid and Medicare payments.

Gender-affirming care for minors has already been paused at hospitals in Washington D.C., Virginia, and Colorado to ensure continued federal funding, according to The Associated Press.

The executive order is likely to come under legal fire. Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield has confirmed that his office will monitor the implementation of the order and the impact it will have on Oregon’s care processes for the transgender population. Rayfield says ‘all legal options are on the table.’

Oregon offers some of the strongest legal protections for gender-affirming care in the U.S. In terms of state law, gender-affirming care programs are available from all public health plans, including the Oregon Health Plan.