Federal appeal court reschedules Medicaid transgender coverage hearing

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A federal appeals court has rescheduled a hearing for November in a battle about whether Florida violated federal laws by blocking Medicaid coverage for transgender people seeking hormone therapy and puberty blockers.

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The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday issued a tentative schedule that said the hearing will be held the week of Nov. 18 in Atlanta.

The hearing had been tentatively scheduled the week of Sept. 16, but the appeals court last month removed it from the schedule.

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Lawyers for Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration appealed in June 2023 after U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle found that the prohibition on Medicaid coverage for hormone therapy and puberty blockers violated federal health-care laws and the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause.

The lawsuit was filed in 2022 on behalf of two transgender adults and the parents of two transgender minors after the state Agency for Health Care Administration adopted a rule that barred the coverage.

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The lawsuit was later updated to include a new state law that similarly prevented coverage.

DeSantis and many other Republican leaders across the country have made a priority in recent years of trying to restrict treatments for transgender people with gender dysphoria.

The federal government defines gender dysphoria clinically as “significant distress that a person may feel when sex or gender assigned at birth is not the same as their identity.”

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