The Trump administration announced Tuesday that Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program will no longer pay for sex-change procedures for minors, ending the use of federal taxpayer dollars for treatments officials say carry potentially irreversible health risks without sufficient evidence of clinical benefit.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said the new rule applies to puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and sex-change surgeries for children. Mental health treatment for gender dysphoria and other conditions will remain eligible for coverage under Medicaid and CHIP.
CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said the policy reflects the administration’s effort to protect children from medical interventions whose long-term effects remain uncertain.
“Children deserve our protection, not experimental interventions that pose serious risks and convey no proven benefits,” Oz said.
“By cutting off federal funds for these sex-rejecting procedures, we’re following the science, saving taxpayer dollars, and, most importantly, protecting children from potentially irreversible harm so they can truly flourish.”
The decision marks a significant reversal of federal policy on transgender medical procedures for minors and follows years of conservative opposition to using taxpayer money to finance medical transitions for children.
The Department of Health and Human Services said the affected procedures can cause lasting consequences, including infertility, impaired sexual function, reduced bone density and other physiological effects.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the administration’s decision followed a review of domestic and international research into medical interventions for minors experiencing gender dysphoria.
“Today, we are ending federal taxpayer funding for sex-rejecting procedures on children,” Kennedy said.
“These interventions carry serious risks and can cause irreversible harm.”
The administration said its review found substantial gaps in the evidence supporting the treatments, along with safety concerns that officials concluded did not justify continued taxpayer funding.
CMS cited the United Kingdom’s Cass Review as part of the evidence underlying its decision. The independent review, led by Dr. Hilary Cass and published in 2024, found limited evidence concerning the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for minors and concluded that medical practices had developed faster than the supporting evidence base.
“The Trump Administration is drawing a clear line: America’s children will not be subjected to life-altering interventions on the taxpayer’s dime without reliable evidence of safety and clinical benefit,” HHS Press Secretary Emily Hilliard said.
The funding restrictions will not take effect immediately for children already receiving hormone treatments. CMS will provide a six-month transition period after the rule takes effect, allowing Medicaid and CHIP funding for existing hormone treatments to be gradually phased out.
The policy represents the administration’s latest effort to restrict federal support for medical gender transitions involving minors while preserving coverage for mental health care.
Tyler Durden Wed, 08/12/2026 - 13:40When discussing yesterday's stellar 3Y auction, we said that the impressive demand for 3 year paper indicated that nobody was worried about today's CPI print... and as we learned this morning, that was justified, since the CPI came in right as expected. And since inflation is tame, and the labor market is not overheating, virtually nobody were worried that today's 10Y auction would have any issues finding new holders. Well, they were right: moments ago the US sold $42 billion in 10Y coupons, the week's second refunding auction. It priced at a high yield of 4.683%, up from 4.586% a month ago, and just wide of the 4.682% When Issued, translating to the first tail since May. Perhaps more notably, today's 10Y auction priced at the highest yield since 2007.
The bid to cover was virtually unchanged from last month, and in line with where it has been for much of the past decade: plus or minus 25bps of 2.50%. Sure enough, at 2.532, the bid to cover was a bit lower than the 2.592 a month ago, but above the six auction average of 2.47.
Internals were also solid, if hardly great, with Indirects awarded 76.73%, down from 81.49% in July - one of the highest ever - but above the recent average of 71.33, as foreign buyers once again park their excess cash in the US. And with Directs awarded 14.67%, up from 10.73% in July and the highest since May, Dealers were left holding 8.6%, one of the lowest on record.
Overall, this was a solid auction, and following yesterday's impressive 3Y, we expect tomorrow's 30Y sale to have no problems finding buyers.
Tyler Durden Wed, 08/12/2026 - 13:26At first, the Hormuz lockdown was supposed to last a few weeks, tops. Not any more: the US now expects oil supply disruptions stemming from the US-Iran war to reach about 600,000 barrels per day through the end of next year as the conflict continues to crimp shipments via the critical Strait of Hormuz.
Oil transported through the waterway averaged 4.9 million barrels per day in the second quarter of this year, according to estimates from the US Energy Information Administration’s Short-Term Energy Outlook. That compares to an average of 21.6 million in the last quarter of 2025, before the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran.
The figures indicate that a brief intermission in fighting, when a so-called memorandum of understanding was signed, did little to blunt the impact of one of the worst disruptions to global energy markets in history. A deal between Iran and Oman to reopen the strait remains elusive, though officials indicate talks are progressing.
"The ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz and elevated fuel prices continue to weigh on oil consumption," the Paris-based IEA said.
As the conflict extends into a sixth month, consumers around the world are once again facing the prospect of higher fuel prices and inflation. The EIA hiked gasoline and diesel price forecasts for 2026 by 3.7% and 5.4% respectively and increased its 2027 forecast for retail gasoline prices by 6.5% from its estimates a month earlier.
The volume of oil moving through the Strait of Hormuz remains difficult to pin down in real time, as vessels going dark obscure shipping activity, leading to discrepancies in estimates among market participants. About 9 million barrels of oil a day exited the strait on average over the past week, according to Energy Secretary Chris Wright, however independent tanker tracking services put the number far lower.
The agency also estimates that Middle East production shut-ins eased to average about 5.5 million barrels a day in July, compared to 7.5 million barrels a day in June. The volume of oil shut in is expected to swell again to 6.6 million barrels a day in the third quarter.
Multiple Middle Eastern countries have been forced to curtail output as limited access to global markets strains available storage capacity.
The report assumes that recent threats to vessels carrying Saudi Arabian crude through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait have not resulted in additional production shut-ins. If that assumption holds, the agency expects most production and trade flows to take until early 2027 to return to pre-war levels.