Idaho Governor Brad Little has signed a law prohibiting the use of public funds to perform gender reassignment procedures.
The rule will prevent public health care programs (such as Medicaid) from covering the costs of puberty blockers, hormone therapies or sex reassignment surgeries for people of any age. According to the text:
The proposed legislation ensures that taxpayer dollars are not spent on medical treatments or surgical interventions intended to change the appearance of a person's sex in a way that is inconsistent with their biological sex; such expenses are not tax deductible; that Idaho Medicaid will not reimburse or provide coverage for such expenses; that physicians employed by taxpayer-funded entities will not provide such treatments or surgeries in the course and scope of their government service. These medical and surgical interventions may cause irreversible physical alterations; some leave the patient sterile or with lifelong sexual dysfunction, while others mutilate healthy body organs. This legislation also provides exemptions for funding medically necessary uses of these medications and procedures.
Embezzlement of public funds
The law will go into effect on July 1 and those who violate it would face charges of embezzlement of public funds (these carry fines of up to $10,000 and sentences of between one and 14 years in prison).
The Republican governor has already reaffirmed repeatedly that public funds (obtained thanks to taxpayers) should not be used for these types of procedures. In a letter he expressed:
Hardworking taxpayers should not be forced to pay for an adult's sex reassignment surgery.
With this new law, Idaho joins nine other states that have prohibited their Medicaid programs from covering the costs of sex reassignment treatments for people of all ages.
Idaho prohibits sex change in minors
In April, the governor signed a rule that makes it a serious crime for health providers to prescribe or offer gender reassignment treatments to minors in the state.
The rule sparked a legal battle that has not yet concluded. In December, a judge temporarily blocked the law from coming into force. In February, the state appealed that decision to the Supreme Court.
