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Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., pressed Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra to clarify his department's stance on "gender-affirming care" for children.
Rates of pharmaceutical and surgical treatments for gender dysphoria have markedly increased among children receiving Medicaid in Florida in recent years, according to data from the state's Medicaid regulator.
Statistics provided to Fox News Digital by Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA), which oversees the state's $36.2 billion Medicaid program, show that the number of children on Medicaid receiving behavioral therapy to treat gender dysphoria increased from 143 in 2017 to 233 in 2021, or nearly 63%. Meanwhile, children receiving puberty blockers spiked from 15 children in 2017 to 55 in 2021, a percentage increase of nearly 270%.
The number of Florida minors on Medicaid taking testosterone for gender dysphoria rose 166%, from 130 recipients in 2017 to 346 in 2021. The number of children receiving estrogen spiked 110%, from 72 in 2017 to 151 in 2021.
During that same time period, Florida Medicaid saw an increase in the number of patients as young as 16 receiving irreversible surgical procedures to treat gender dysphoria, from a combined total of three children between 2017 to 2020 to 12 children in 2021 alone.
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Protestors in support of transgender rights rally outside the Alabama State House in Montgomery, Alabama, on Tuesday, March 30, 2021. (Jake Crandall/The Montgomery Advertiser via AP)
The data included only those receiving medical interventions for gender dysphoria and did not encompass any other categories for treatment of other conditions such as intersex or cancer.
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"As you can see, the soaring increase in children receiving pharmaceutical and surgical treatments for gender dysphoria was vastly greater than children receiving behavioral health treatments for gender dysphoria," AHCA spokesperson Brock Juarez told Fox News Digital.
"This is a concerning statistic and potentially indicative of a medical community increasingly focused on promoting treatments found to be experimental and investigational with the potential for harmful long-term effects, including brain swelling and aneurysm," he added.
New rules went into effect on Aug. 21 that prohibit Florida Medicaid from covering interventions such as puberty blockers, hormone therapies or surgical procedures to treat gender dysphoria. The rule change came after AHCA determined those services were "not consistent with generally accepted professional medical standards and are experimental and investigational with the potential for harmful long-term affects."
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In a release detailing a "robust review of available medical evidence and the assessment of five medical experts," the agency said that scientific studies supporting the treatments were "weak to very weak," evidence showing benefits from hormone replacement therapies is "very weak," and that there were no randomized control trials on the effectiveness of transgender medical interventions, citing a lack of long-term follow-up studies after reassignment surgery. The agency's overview determined there was no evidence that the use of puberty blockers improves mental health.
Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo during a news conference with Gov. Ron DeSantis, at the NeoCity Academy in Kissimmee, on Sept. 22, 2021. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
In March, the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a fact sheet claiming that "gender-affirming care" for minors includes social affirmation at any age, puberty blockers during puberty and cross-sex hormone therapy starting during early adolescence. Irreversible surgery is "typically used in adulthood or case-by-case basis in adolescence," according to the agency.
Citing peer-reviewed studies as well as a "lack of conclusive evidence, and the potential for long-term, irreversible effects," Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo released separate guidance in April advising against the HHS's list of treatment options.
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In May, several medical professionals told Fox News Digital that they have seen rates of gender dysphoria skyrocket among their young patients in recent years, but that many of their colleagues are reluctant to speak publicly against transgender ideology for fear of both professional and personal retaliation.
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