Louisiana Medicaid quietly stops reimbursing patients for gender-affirming care

Originally published by the Louisiana Illuminator

Transgender Louisianians will no longer receive Medicaid reimbursement for any gender-affirming care prescriptions if their provider uses certain gender-related diagnosis codes, according to multiple LGBTQ+ organizations.

“Instead of making this change through the legislative process, the state instilled its anti-trans agenda through obscure, extralegal bureaucratic maneuvers,” the advocacy organization Trans Income Project wrote in a statement to the Illuminator. “Now, thousands of Louisianans are losing coverage for trans medicine and incurring unexpected out-of-pocket costs when attempting to pick up their regular prescriptions.”

Gender-affirming care is a catch-all term for medical treatments given to people to align their physical bodies with their identified gender. Such care is administered to transgender people, who identify as a gender different from their sex assigned at birth, as well as cisgender people, who identify as their assigned sex.

The Louisiana Department of Health did not respond to emailed questions asking why the policy has been put in place.

The Williams Institute, a think tank at UCLA School of Law that researches sexual orientation and gender identity law, estimates LGBTQ+ adults are twice as likely as non-LGBTQ+ adults to take part in the Medicaid program.

Louisiana banned gender-affirming health care for transgender youth in 2023, but the treatments remain legal for transgender adults.

The Williams Institute estimates about 15,700 transgender adults live in Louisiana.

The Trans Income Project encourages individuals worried about paying for their prescriptions to reach out to the organization for assistance.

Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com.