For the second time in the last two weeks, a judge has struck down a law preventing Medicaid from covering critical management of pediatric medical care.
A Florida judge ruled that Florida’s Medicaid system cannot deny specific and needed medical care no matter how “woke” or “icky” that state may believe it to be.
Trans Children in Florida will, at least for now, have their gender transition covered by Medicaid.
U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle tripled up his ruling, finding three bases for overturning the law, generally making it harder to overturn in an appeal.
First, Judge Hinkle relied on the strongest argument by declaring the state’s decision to remove coverage violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment in creating a “class” of people that is ill-defined and entitled to, well, equal protection.
Additionally, Hinkle ruled that the ban violated the Federal Medicaid statute (Federal statutes always overrule state statutes when the federal statute provides “more” protection).
Finally, Florida’s new “anti-woke” law violated the Affordable Care Act’s prohibition of sex discrimination, perhaps better worded as “gender” discrimination, but a welcome ruling.
This decision was expected.
On June 6th, Judge Hinkle temporarily enjoined Florida from enforcing the ban on people under 18 from receiving gender-affirming care, usually consisting of puberty blockers and hormone therapy.
Hinkle’s ruling ensures that Florida joins Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, and Oklahoma as states that have banned pediatric gender-affirming care only to have the statute overturned by a federal judge.
The fear of even the appearance of becoming labeled as “woke” has led GOP lawmakers to introduce more than 500 bills restricting LGBTQ rights across the country.
Republican-controlled legislatures passed 70 into law, according to Human Rights Campaign. Gender-affirming care for minors was passed in 20 states.
The fifteen remaining states likely face similar injunctions and rulings.
Somewhat surprisingly, the judge noted the dynamic in which such laws are passed and hit it on the head.
Hinkle noted that the groups that bring these suits state they’re doing so to protect children. The opinion stated that the defendants state their concern is that children are being misled by parents and doctors who may regret the decision.
In a 54-page opinion, Hinkle called these people out.
“Many people with this view tend to disapprove all things transgender and so oppose medical care that supports a person’s transgender existence.”
“The elephant in the room should be noted at the outset. Gender identity is real. The record makes this clear,”
The plaintiffs in the case were two adults trans-gendered and two minors seeking treatment.
The Defendant was the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA), which had originally approved Medicaid payments for the plaintiffs.
As one might guess, a review of the program occurred in 2022 by the executive office of Governor Ron DeSantis, who ordered the AHCA to conduct a new analysis and ended the coverage.
Judge Hinkle seemed particularly bothered by the fact that the AHCA “retained only consultants known in advance for their staunch opposition to gender-affirming care.”
The fact is not hard to believe. But it is unusual for a judge to point to such an obvious sign but not one central to the ruling.
The judge seemed particularly mad at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Hinkle wrote, “The new … process was, from the outset, a biased effort to justify a predetermined outcome, not a fair analysis of the evidence.”
Of course, as he runs for president, DeSantis has fought to destroy anything that might appear “woke,” no matter how many people he hurts along the way.
Judge Hinkle was not going to let DeSantis hurt minors needing Medicaid to pay for their gender-affirming care.
Original reporting byDaniel Trotta of Reuters
I can be reached at jasonmiciak@gmail.com and on Twitter @JasonMiciak.
Editor’s note: This is an opinion column that solely reflects the opinions of the author.
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