Earlier in the month I wrote about a federal judge that ordered the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) to produce documents related to its determination that gender-affirming health care cannot be covered under Medicaid because treatments are “experimental and investigational.”
They are due in court today!
I wonder what the state agency will do… provide the data or thumb their nose at the judge and stall.
Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter in Florida’s Evil Doctors.
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But that is not the only issue in Florida anti-trans policies and laws.
Damn the Courts Full Speed Ahead!
In a gutsy move the another the Florida Boards of Medicine and Osteopathic Medicine when foreward and issued new healthcare policies against us.
WUSF Public Media - WUSF 89.7By Associated PressFebruary 10, 2023Transgender youth in Florida seeking gender-affirming care will no longer have access to treatment — not even during clinical trials.Puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy will be banned for minors under rules adopted Friday by the Florida Boards of Medicine and Osteopathic Medicine.
During the meeting the Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine voted to eliminate an exception for research at the request of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration.
Some members of the public attending the meeting in Tallahassee shouted expletives, and law enforcement officers positioned themselves in the front of the room after the vote.
[…]
The Florida Board of Medicine and the Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine approved rules last fall that prohibited gender-affirming surgery and puberty blocking hormones for minors, but there were procedural steps that needed to be completed before the rules were finalized. And minors receiving puberty blockers prior to the rules taking effect can continue to take them. During the November meeting, the osteopathic medicine board made an exception for clinical research trials that examined the long-term impact of the treatments.
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American Academy of Pediatrics, Endocrine Society and others accuse the state of targeting them after they backed lawsuit by patients and families fighting Florida’s Medicaid funding banWashington PostBy Spencer S. HsuFebruary 7, 2023A legal battle over Florida’s ban on Medicaid spending for gender-affirming medical care spilled into Washington on Thursday as a federal judge partially granted an urgent request by 18 American medical and mental health groups to quash subpoenas sent to them by the state after they opposed the prohibition.The professional associations accused Florida of targeting members such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychiatric Association and the Endocrine Society after they expressed the widely accepted medical view that care such as puberty blockers, hormones and gender transition surgery can be appropriate treatment for transgender youth and adults.
The groups spoke out last fall in support of a lawsuit filed by four transgender patients and their parents to overturn the ban in federal court in Tallahassee. But the organizations said state officials responded with a “highly inappropriate and invasive” fishing expedition for internal documents and communications about their policy positions. They accused the state of hunting for “supposed internal dissent” and bias in the service of an attack on the guidelines and credibility of the groups “from the inside-out.”
[…]
After an hour-long hearing Thursday, U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols sharply narrowed Florida’s request ahead of a fast-approaching Feb. 2 deadline in the underlying Tallahassee lawsuit.
But Nichols agreed that at least some information held by the groups was needed because it could answer the central question posed by the judge in Florida of whether it is reasonable for the state Medicaid agency to find that gender-affirming treatments are “experimental” given current medical knowledge.
The court fight and Thursday’s ruling underscored how aggressively Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and his administration are pressing a state attack on transgender medical treatment, a wedge-issue selected by conservative politicians in the nation’s culture wars, with not just transgender patients and their families in the crosshairs, but also increasingly doctors and the medical establishment.
The animosity that the governor and the Republicans hold for us knows no bounds!
How many millions of dollars has all this cost the state of Florida? They court cases! The agencies hours put in to write the new policies? Couldn’t those millions of dollars be better spent on the victims of hurricanes Ian and Nicole instead of persecuting us?
What makes this era so dangerous is that it is so virulently anti-science which opens up the field for crackpot right wingers to set agenda. If they don't like the expert position they look for a dissenting opinion which suits their objective.
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