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Major Manhattan Hospital, Massachusetts Health Care System End ‘Gender-Affirming Care’ for Minors
The decision was made to preserve Baystate Health and NYU Langone’s access to federal funding.
Two major hospital organizations, NYU Langone and Baystate Health, both announced this week that they will no longer provide “gender-affirming care” for patients under 18 years old.
The change, in both cases, was driven by concerns that continuing to offer “gender-affirming care” to patients under 18, despite the well-documented negative consequences associated with the procedures, might endanger the system’s Medicaid and Medicare eligibility.
NYU Langone is a major Manhattan hospital, and Baystate Health is the largest health care system in western Massachusetts. Both previously maintained robust treatment programs for gender dysphoric youth.
“Given the recent departure of our medical director, coupled with the current regulatory environment, we made the difficult decision to discontinue our Transgender Youth Health Program,” according to a statement from NYU Langone spokesman, Steve Ritea.
Baystate Health sent a letter earlier this month to parents and guardians, saying it will continue to offer counseling to gender dysphoric minors, but the hospitals will no longer prescribe puberty blockers or “gender-affirming” hormone treatments. NYU Langone also said it will continue its counseling program.
Baystate Health will transfer its minor transgender patients to Transhealth, a local center offering “gender-affirming” services, to continue their prescriptions.
“This decision offers patients the specialized expertise and continuity of care they need and deserve and reflects the evolving regulatory landscape that threatens hundreds of millions of dollars in hospital Medicaid and Medicare funding,” Baystate Health said in a statement to the Boston Globe. “Nearly 70 percent of Baystate Health patients rely on Medicaid and Medicare, and preserving access to care for these individuals and all others in our community is a responsibility we take seriously.”
Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal told the New York Times he is concerned about future access to these procedures.
“I’m horrified at the consequences that might result for some of these young people,” Holyman-Sigal said. “It’s crucial that they find alternative care as soon as possible, and I think it’s the responsibility of the hospitals that are ending this treatment to make those arrangements.”
Back in October, Fenway Health, another major Massachusetts provider, halted its “gender-affirming care” project, citing similar concerns over a loss of federal funding amid growing restrictions. Fenway Health was one of the largest providers of these services in the greater Boston area. Two large Connecticut hospitals made a similar shift.
Currently, 27 states have either outright banned or have restrictions on “gender-affirming care” for youth patients.
At the end of last year, the Trump administration made serious strides toward banning these procedures and treatments nationwide.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced in December 2025 that the administration would withhold Medicaid and Medicare funding from hospitals that provide hormones or gender-affirming treatments for minors. The move is consequential, as almost every hospital in the United States relies on this federal funding to operate.
“This is not medicine. It is malpractice,” Kennedy said.
Thus, even in states like Massachusetts, which have long supported these interventions, hospitals must either stop providing the treatments and procedures or risk a loss in funding.
The shift comes as two major health organizations recently came out against gender interventions for minors.
The American Society of Plastic Surgeons issued a directive urging health care providers to delay any sort of gender-affirming surgeries until the patient is at least 19 years old. The American Medical Association recently made a similar statement, noting that because of the limited evidence longterm evidence that these surgeries are helpful, they should not be considered until the patient reaches adulthood.
Supporters of continuing to offer puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and gender-related surgeries often overlook recent systematic reviews from organizations such as HHS and the U.K.’s Cass Review, which was commissioned by the National Health Service.
The Cass Review, for example, found major concerns regarding giving children puberty blockers and other gender interventions, and concluded that evidence supporting these treatments is weak. The U.K. ultimately banned all gender interventions for patients under the age of 18 following the release of the Cass Review.