Hospitals Forfeit More Than $24M by Caving to Trump’s Campaign Against Trans Youth Care

This story originally appeared on The Advocate.More hospitals are making deals with the federal government over investigations into their gender-affirming care programs for minors. But that means funding for anti-trans medical efforts, and a presidential administration that backs them, is on the rise, too.This year, hospitals have forked over at least $24.3 million in Justice Department deals over trans youth health programs, according to an investigation by The Advocate.The deals are not an admission of guilt, but their price tags represent a mix of federal penalties and voluntary financial contributions to gender detransition programs. Not all payment totals were publicly announced, meaning the real figure could sit well above $24.3 million. Since May, at least six hospitals have adopted deals like these: Texas Children's Hospital, Cleveland Clinic, Connecticut Children’s Hospital, Mount Sinai Health System, NYU Langone Health and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.Related: ‘Honor your oath’: Hundreds confront NYU Langone hospital over caving to Trump on trans healthcare(function(){function e(){window.addEventListener(`message`,function(e){if(e.data[`datawrapper-height`]!==void 0){var t=document.querySelectorAll(`iframe`);for(var n in e.data[`datawrapper-height`])for(var r=0,i;i=t[r];r++)if(i.contentWindow===e.source){var a=e.data[`datawrapper-height`][n]+`px`;i.style.height=a}}})}e()})();Each deal included a commitment to pay damages and federal penalties, and most also include funds to support detransition services for patients who are dissatisfied with the gender-affirming care they received.The Justice Department has alleged gender-affirming care providers are potentially violating federal law through “fraudulent billing practices such as the use of false diagnosis codes to obtain payment from federal health care programs and private insurers,” per a Sept. 18 press release. Despite this, the department did not provide evidence of fraud in it