The Trump administration has moved to bar the federal government’s largest health insurance programs from covering gender-affirming care, even for adults.
The Advocate reports that an internal letter issued Aug. 15 announced that the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) and Postal Service Health Benefits (PSHB) programs will stop covering hormone therapies and surgeries related to gender transition beginning in 2026.
The FEHB covers more than eight million federal workers, while PSHB provides benefits to about two million postal employees.
The new policy specifies that hormone therapies will remain available for conditions such as cancer treatment, endometriosis, and IVF but not for treating gender dysphoria. Exceptions will be granted only for patients already undergoing transition-related care, to be determined on a case-by-case basis by healthcare providers. Counseling services for gender dysphoria will remain covered.
“Everyone should have access to the health care they need – full stop,” said Human Rights Campaign president Kelley Robinson, calling the move an escalation of attacks on transgender healthcare. “We’re going to fight this every single way we can.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
