New federal probe examines whether taxpayer dollars fund child gender transitions, legal defenses

New federal probe examines whether taxpayer dollars fund child gender transitions, legal defenses

A Senate hearing next week will examine federal funding and liability protections for providers giving gender change treatments to minors

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FIRST ON FOX: A top Senate Republican is demanding answers on whether taxpayer-backed health providers used federal support to provide gender transition-related services to minors — and whether taxpayers could be footing the bill when former patients sue.

In letters obtained by Fox News Digital, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, asked two Rhode Island health care providers to explain reports saying they provided puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, surgical referrals or related services to patients under 19 years old — and pressed the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) on whether federal funding and liability protections are shielding community health centers from accountability.

Cassidy is broadening scrutiny into federally supported health providers accused of providing puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and related services to "vulnerable patients," including minors, days before a scheduled Senate hearing looking into alleged gender transition procedures for children and federally funded support for them.

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"Health care providers are supposed to protect children’s health, not subject them to dangerous sex-change procedures driven by ideology," Cassidy said in a news release about the new probes. "These entities need to be held accountable to prevent further harm to children."

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., ranking Member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, is demanding answers on whether taxpayer-backed health providers used federal support to provide gender transition-related services to minors (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

General counsel for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Mike Stuart, referred several federally funded community health centers in February for an inspector general investigation for allegedly providing gender-transition services to children. It was not immediately clear whether the HHS Office of Inspector General has completed or publicly released findings from those referrals. Cassidy’s letter asks Health Resources and Services Administration to detail what enforcement actions, if any, have been taken.

Documents from one of those community health centers, according to materials reviewed by Fox News Digital, describe a pathway for patients under 18 seeking gender-affirming care, including hormones, as long as parental consent is obtained for an initial intake appointment. Another publicly advertises transgender health services, including hormone care, and separately operates an adolescent health program for LGBTQ youth and young adults ages 13 to 24.

Cassidy's investigation expanded scrutiny of these health centers to two more federally funded healthcare providers, Thundermist Health Center and Hasbro Children’s Hospital, in Rhode Island.

The senator's probe focuses in part on a federal liability structure that can leave the government on the hook for defending certain malpractice claims.

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In his letter to Health Resources and Services Administration, Cassidy said certain community health centers and their providers may be deemed employees of the U.S. Public Health Service for liability purposes and, when medical malpractice claims arise under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), the Department of Justice (DOJ) becomes responsible for defending the cases.

Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island, is pictured on April 25, 2019. ( Lane Turner/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Cassidy argued that framework raises fresh accountability questions as detransition-related lawsuits mount nationwide. In his letters, Cassidy cited several lawsuits in which DOJ has represented community health centers or their providers in litigation involving gender transition-related services.

Community healthcare centers "receive billions of taxpayer dollars from Congress. For fiscal year (FY) 2026 alone, CHCs will receive over $6.3 billion in mandatory and discretionary funding. In addition, the HRSA Health Center Program receives $120 million to administer the FTCA Program," Cassidy's letter to HRSA states. "The underlying conduct is concerning and exposes potential gaps in the guardrails governing existing federal funding streams. Furthermore, the current liability framework raises accountability challenges. Patients alleging harm from gender transition-related services may be forced to litigate against the full resources of the federal government, rather than the individual providers responsible for their care, with DOJ defending providers engaged in practices that this administration and HHS have sought to restrict."

For Thundermist, Cassidy’s letter notes that the center receives mandatory and discretionary grant funding from the federal government, enhanced reimbursement from Medicare and Medicaid, revenue through the 340B drug pricing program and other federal support. The letter says 66% of Thundermist’s fiscal year 2024 grants and contributions revenue came from HHS and the Health Resources and Services Administration.

Cassidy, meanwhile, highlighted a Rhode Island lawsuit filed by a former patient against Thundermist providers alleging medical malpractice, negligence and lack of informed consent related to gender transition.

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The Hasbro letter raises a similar federal-funding question, but focuses on federal support available to children’s hospitals rather than Health Resources and Services Administration-funded community health centers.

Fox News Digital reached out to Thundermist and Hasbro for comment, but did not hear back in time for publication.

Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence, RI is pictured on April 25, 2019. (Lane Turner/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

At an upcoming HELP Committee hearing, Cassidy is expected to focus on what Republicans describe as the risks of pediatric gender transition procedures and whether federal agencies have done enough to restrict taxpayer support for providers that continue offering them to minors.

The hearing also gives Cassidy a public platform to pressure Health Resources and Services Administration and HHS over whether the agencies have identified which federally funded providers are still offering gender transition-related services to minors, whether any grants have been restricted or terminated, and whether federal liability protections should continue to apply in cases involving those procedures.

HHS terminated more than 500 research grants worth more than $350 million in grant funding for gender ideology and DEI research projects. (Getty Images/Fox News)

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Cassidy's letter to Health Resources and Services Administration asked the agency to respond by May 28 to questions about whether any community health centers are currently providing gender transition-related services, whether those services could affect eligibility for federal funding, and how much taxpayer money has been used to resolve claims involving gender transition-related procedures.

Fox News Digital reached out to HHS about the status of the current inspector general investigations into community healthcare centers over providing gender-transition services to minor but did not hear back in time for publication.

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