A newly implemented policy under the Trump administration, which ceases coverage of gender-affirming medical treatments through federal government health insurance plans, is now facing a legal challenge. The complaint, submitted on Thursday by the Human Rights Campaign on behalf of affected federal employees, targets the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) August directive that prohibits insurance coverage for "chemical and surgical modification of an individual’s sex traits through medical interventions" for federal workers including U.S. Postal Service employees.
The complainants argue that the elimination of coverage for gender-affirming care represents discrimination based on sex, contravening equitable treatment principles. The filing requests that the personnel office rescind the policy, emphasizing concerns that the rule is intended to marginalize transgender individuals and their families from the federal workforce.
Kelley Robinson, President of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, stated that this policy is not propelled by financial or care-related considerations, but rather aims to push transgender individuals and those connected to them out of federal employment.
The complaint is lodged with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and incorporates statements from four current federal employees working within the State Department, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Postal Service, all of whom would be directly impacted by the policy's removal of gender-affirming care coverage.
An example outlined in the complaint relates to a Postal Service employee whose daughter has been advised by medical practitioners to pursue puberty blockers and potentially hormone replacement therapy as treatment for gender dysphoria. Such treatments would no longer be covered under the new OPM guidelines, complicating access to medically recommended care for the family.
The filing also asserts that the federal employees bringing the suit represent a broader "class of similarly situated federal employees" affected by this policy shift.
This policy change is part of a broader move by the Trump administration to restrict access to gender-affirming healthcare, especially for minors. In December, the Department of Health and Human Services proposed measures that would prohibit minors from receiving gender-affirming medical interventions, including a directive to prevent Medicare and Medicaid funds from supporting hospitals providing such care to children.
Senior officials within the administration, including Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have characterized gender-affirming care for minors as "malpractice." This stance contrasts with the recommendations of major medical organizations such as the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, which support gender-affirming care as part of standard medical practice for transgender youth.