Team Biden has no problem using taxpayer dollars to cover treatments, such as gender transition surgery, for minors that medical experts have determined are “medically necessary”, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said.
In written testimony submitted to the House Committee on Education and Labor, Becerra said the administration supports coverage for transition-related treatments for both adults and children.
“The Biden-Harris Administration supports the upcoming release of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) Standards of Care Version 8 and believes that all children and adults should be afforded life-saving, medically necessary care. Payers, both public and private, should cover treatments which medical experts have determined to be medically necessary”, Becerra wrote in response to a series of questions submitted by Illinois Republican Rep. Mary Miller, including whether he believed “taxpayers should pay for chemical castration and sex-change operations”.
Becerra’s written testimony follows up on a line of questioning from Miller to Becerra at a congressional hearing in April.
At the hearing, Miller asked Becerra if taxpayers should pay for treatments such as breast/chest construction and laser hair removal under Medicare and Medicaid, to which Becerra said the administration will continue to “provide people with the protections they need to get the medical services they are entitled to” compliant with the law.
Joe Biden has previously called Republican-led efforts to limit access to transition-related treatments, such as puberty blockers and gender transition surgeries, for minors as “immoral”.
