LGBTQ+ and Health Advocates Urge Court of Appeals to Affirm Ruling Striking Down Florida’s Anti-Transgender Medicaid Ban

(Atlanta, GA, November 22, 2024) - Lambda Legal, Southern Legal Counsel, National Health Law Program, Florida Health Justice Project, and the law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit to affirm a lower court ruling that invalidated Florida’s discriminatory rule and statute that banned coverage for evidence-based, widely accepted gender-affirming medical care for all of the state’s transgender Medicaid beneficiaries.

 "Transgender Floridians on Medicaid deserve access to necessary healthcare and freedom from discrimination just like any other people. Following an extensive seven-day trial in which it heard from medical experts and transgender Medicaid beneficiaries in Florida, the district court issued a thorough and comprehensive decision based on the facts and the evidence, and it concluded that Florida's ban on Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming medical care lacks any reasonable factual basis and constitutes unlawful discrimination. We see no reason for the Court of Appeals to reverse that decision, particularly when the State does not challenge any of the extensive factual findings by the district court," said Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, Senior Counsel and Health Care Strategist at Lambda Legal. “Decades of scientific research and clinical experience consistently demonstrate the safety, effectiveness, and medical necessity of gender-affirming medical care. Florida’s ban on Medicaid coverage ignores the facts and seeks to codify discrimination.”

 “The State of Florida set out to ban access to the medical care that transgender people need to live healthy and authentic lives. Through a well-orchestrated process in pursuit of a predetermined outcome, the State banned coverage of gender-affirming care for some of the most vulnerable individuals of our state: Florida Medicaid beneficiaries,” said Simone Chriss, Director of the Transgender Rights Initiative at Southern Legal Counsel. “The extensive factual record in this case speaks for itself, and we believe that this Court will see the State’s politically motivated endeavor for what it is: a cruel attempt to strip healthcare from marginalized people without justification.”

 "We trust that the district court's thoughtful and well-reasoned opinion will be affirmed. The health and well-being of low-income transgender individuals in Florida depends on it. Without Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming services, these individuals will have no choice but to forgo medically necessary care," said Catherine McKee, Senior Attorney at the National Health Law Program.

 “As the trial court found, gender-affirming care is well-established and medically necessary treatment recognized by leading health organizations,” said Katy DeBriere, Legal Director at Florida Health Justice Project. “Banning Medicaid coverage for this care violates Floridians’ right to equal access to essential healthcare and undermines their dignity and well-being. This is why we are hopeful the well reasoned decision of the lower court is affirmed.”

 In June 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida ruled that Florida’s prohibition on Medicaid coverage for treatment of gender dysphoria for transgender Floridians is unlawful and unconstitutional. The ruling also nullified Section 3 of SB 254, the transgender healthcare ban, which similarly denied state funding for Medicaid coverage of gender-affirming medical care. 

The ruling came in Dekker v. Weida, a federal lawsuit challenging Florida’s discriminatory rule. The lawsuit was filed by Lambda Legal, Southern Legal Counsel, Florida Health Justice Project, the National Health Law Program, and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.   

Background

 The lawsuit, Dekker, et al., v. Weida, et al., was filed in 2022 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida against the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) and AHCA’s Secretary Jason Weida, on behalf of four plaintiffs: August Dekker (he/him) and Brit Rothstein (he/him), as well as two minors identified under pseudonyms Susan Doe (represented by her parents Jane and John Doe) and K.F. (represented by his mother, Jade Ladue).  

 On August 21, 2022, AHCA, which oversees Florida’s Medicaid Program, adopted a discriminatory rule that denies Medicaid coverage for, and therefore access to, necessary and evidence-based medical care for thousands of transgender people in Florida, notwithstanding that this medical care was long covered by Florida Medicaid, and has been proven over decades to be safe and effective. On May 17, 2023, during the pendency of the trial in this case, Governor Ron DeSantis signed SB 254 into law, which, among other things, prohibits the expenditure of state funds for the provision or coverage of gender-affirming care. The next day the case was amended to include a challenge to Section 3 of SB 254, using the same evidence developed at trial.   

 Read more about Dekker, et al. v. Weida, et al., here.