Second major U.S. hospital agrees to fund detransition services under settlement with Trump DOJ

As part of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, the Cleveland Clinic pledged $2 million in care for people who detransition after receiving medical interventions as minors.The Clinic said not much is changing, because it already provides that care. But transgender advocates say the settlement with such a high-profile institution lends credibility to a politically charged effort to roll back transgender healthcare across the country.The settlement followed a 2025 investigation into the hospital system over allegations it falsely billed insurance for what the Department of Justice called “sex-rejecting procedures on minors,” which the agreement defined as providing puberty blockers, hormone therapy, surgical interventions or voice modification interventions.This type of healthcare is more commonly known as gender-affirming care. That’s an umbrella term for the treatment of gender dysphoria, or the discomfort that comes when someone’s gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth.“The Clinic is jumping to the front of the line to comply not with science and medicine, but with cruelty and anti-trans hate,” said Dara Adkison, executive director of TransOhio. The hospital is the second in the country to settle a dispute with the federal government by providing detransition care in the last month. Under the agreement, the hospital also agreed to pay $308,000 to resolve the billing allegations. The dollars will go to both the federal government and the State of Ohio, whose attorney general is a party in the settlement. Additionally, the Cleveland Clinic committed to not perform or offer most medical interventions associated with gender-affirming care to minors for two decades at its hospitals across Ohio, Florida, Nevada, Canada, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.By committing dollars to detransition care, the Cleveland Clinic is helping to “provide essential medical care for individuals living with the harmful con