Add Art 2 Title 2-F §244-a, Pub Health L; add §95-l, St Fin L
Establishes a gender affirming care fund and program to provide support and increase access to gender affirming care including medical and surgical care and therapies, equipment and supplies and mental health treatment.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8841
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
June 9, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. GONZALEZ-ROJAS -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law and the state finance law, in
relation to the gender affirming care program
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Legislative intent and findings. A gender affirming care
2 fund shall be maintained and distributed through the department of
3 health. Funds shall be distributed to health care providers and organ-
4 izations who provide gender affirming care to gender expansive individ-
5 uals with and without a diagnosis of gender dysphoria or with or without
6 the distinguishment of the treatment to be medically necessary. The fund
7 shall also be distributed to organizations who have received or previ-
8 ously received federal funding and no longer receive such funding due to
9 the continuation of providing gender affirming care.
10 § 2. Title 2-F of article 2 of the public health law is amended by
11 adding a new section 244-a to read as follows:
12 § 244-a. Gender affirming care program. 1. As used in this section,
13 the following terms shall have the following meanings:
14 (a) "Gender expansive" shall mean a transgender, non-binary, gender
15 non-conforming, or intersex individuals, having a gender identity or
16 expression that is different from the sex assigned to them at birth.
17 (b) "Medically necessary" shall mean health care services or products
18 that a prudent physician would provide to a patient for preventing,
19 diagnosing, or treating an illness, injury, disease, or its symptoms in
20 a manner that is by generally accepted standards of medical practice.
21 (c) "Gender affirming care" shall mean any single or combination of a
22 number of social, psychological, behavioral, or medical (including
23 hormone treatment and/or surgery) interventions designed to support and
24 affirm an individual's gender identity. Such treatments shall include:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11750-02-5
A. 8841 2
1 (i) hormone therapy, hormone antagonists, menstrual suppression, and
2 pubertal suppression therapy;
3 (ii) surgical procedures and revisions to prior surgery, including
4 reversing prior surgeries;
5 (iii) care that supports surgical recovery, including restoration of
6 function, such as
7 (A) non-surgical procedures, such as laser treatment for scars from
8 surgery and medical tattooing to restore function; and
9 (B) pre- and post- operative physical and occupational therapies, such
10 as pelvic floor therapy and hand therapy;
11 (iv) hair removal or restoration;
12 (v) fertility preservation procedures;
13 (vi) durable medical equipment and supplies, such as compression
14 garments, shapewear, prosthetics, and post-operative surgical dressings
15 and devices;
16 (vii) mental health care, including assessment, support letters, and
17 on-going counseling;
18 (viii) voice care, including the assessment and treatment of the voice
19 and related conditions, including the additional domains of speech,
20 language, and communication under the scope of speech-language patholo-
21 gist, otolaryngologists, and other allied voice professionals; and
22 (ix) any other care treatments, surgeries, services, or procedures to
23 support an individual's gender affirming care.
24 (d) "Fund" shall mean the gender affirming care fund established by
25 section ninety-five-l of the state finance law.
26 2. The commissioner shall establish a gender affirming care program.
27 The commissioner shall consult a range of experts including, but not
28 limited to individuals and entities providing gender affirming care,
29 gender affirming funds and other organizations whose mission is to
30 expand access to gender affirming care, to ensure the gender affirming
31 care program structure and expenditures reflect the needs of gender
32 affirming care providers, gender affirming care funds and consumers.
33 3. The commissioner shall distribute funds from the gender affirming
34 care fund established in section ninety-five-l of the state finance law
35 through grants awarded pursuant to this section. In determining funding
36 for applicants under the grant program, the commissioner shall consider
37 the following criteria and goals:
38 (a) Increasing access to care by growing the capacity of gender
39 affirming care providers to meet present and future care needs. Funds
40 may be awarded to support the recruitment and retention of staff, staff
41 training, the establishment of new or renovation of existing health
42 centers, investments in technology to facilitate care, security enhance-
43 ments, and other operational or capital needs that increase access to
44 gender affirming care.
45 (b) Funding uncompensated health care services associated with gender
46 affirming care, to ensure the affordability of and access to care for
47 individuals who lack ability to pay for care, for individuals who lack
48 insurance coverage, are underinsured, or whose insurance is deemed unus-
49 able by the rendering provider.
50 (c) Addressing practical support needs of individuals accessing gender
51 affirming care for individuals who lack ability to pay for such support.
52 4. Funds may only be awarded for treatment or care taking place in New
53 York state.
54 5. The commissioner shall not request, or otherwise require, any
55 gender affirming care provider or non-profit organization receiving
56 moneys from the program to divulge the name, address, photograph,
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1 license number, email address, phone number, or any other individual
2 identifying information of any patient, or individual who sought or
3 received health care services or practical support from a gender affirm-
4 ing care provider or organization under the program.
5 6. Any non-profit organization or gender affirming care provider
6 receiving funds from the program shall take all necessary steps to
7 ensure the confidentiality of the individuals receiving services pursu-
8 ant to the state and federal laws.
9 § 3. The state finance law is amended by adding a new section 95-l to
10 read as follows:
11 § 95-l. Gender affirming care fund. 1. There is hereby established in
12 the joint custody of the state comptroller and the commissioner of taxa-
13 tion and finance a fund to be known as the "gender affirming care fund".
14 2. Moneys in the fund shall be used to provide support to gender
15 affirming care providers and non-profit organizations to increase access
16 to care, fund uncompensated care, and address the support needs of indi-
17 viduals accessing gender affirming care, pursuant to the provisions of
18 section two hundred forty-four-a of the public health law.
19 3. The fund shall consist of all moneys appropriated for the purposes
20 of such fund and all moneys appropriated, credited or transferred there-
21 to from any other fund or source pursuant to law. The moneys shall be
22 payable from the fund on the audit and warrant of the comptroller on
23 vouchers approved and certified by the commissioner of health. Interest
24 received by the comptroller on money on deposit in the fund shall be
25 retained in and become part of such fund.
26 § 4. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
27 have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or
28 repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of
29 this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed
30 on or before such effective date.
