Ohio anti-LGBTQ+ hate group co-authors Trump administration ‘report’ alleging gender-affirming healthcare fraud

Last week, the Trump administration’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) partnered with Ohio-based anti-LGBTQ+ hate group the Center for Christian Virtue (CCV) to publish an anti-transgender report alleging systemic insurance fraud.

“Wolves in White Coats: How Doctors and Hospitals Pushed and Profited from the Fraud of ‘Gender Medicine,’” was commissioned by HHS and co-authored by CCV.

The report alleges healthcare providers across the country have committed widespread, systemic medical billing fraud in order to provide transgender patients with gender-affirming healthcare under the Trump administration’s growing restrictions.

The report – which features an image of a scalpel and a stained doctor’s coat on its cover – includes contributions from notable right-wing, anti-transgender activists, including CCV president Aaron Baer.

It comes on the heels of a new rule released Tuesday that bans Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) benefits from being used to provide transgender youth with healthcare in line with global medical standards.

Hate group’s growing influence

CCV is the primary driver behind anti-transgender and anti-LGBTQ+ legislation at the Ohio Statehouse, including the state’s current blanket ban on gender-affirming healthcare for transgender youth.

The group – which also functions as the state-level arm of the powerful national anti-LGBTQ+ hate group Family Research Council (FRC) – was re-categorized as an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group by civil-rights watchdog Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in 2023.

Over the last decade, the CCV’s power and influence have skyrocketed. Between 2017 and 2021, its total revenue more than quadrupled – jumping from $387,000 to $4.43 million, largely a result of individual donors.

Today, the group’s influence both at the Ohio Statehouse and the White House is unprecedented.

False-billing allegations

Some healthcare providers have billed multiple or alternative codes when treating trans patients in an effort to avoid pathologizing transgender identity, as terms like “gender identity disorder” often carry medical stigma and can increase instances of harassment and discrimination in medical settings.

The report accuses those healthcare providers of systemic fraud and false billing, alleging they have engaged in mass medical and insurance fraud by using alternative or multiple diagnostic and procedural codes when treating transgender patients.

The report also claims that healthcare providers, hospital systems and gender-affirming clinics across the country have intentionally tricked cisgender patients into believing they are actually transgender – forcing transition-related care upon hundreds of cisgender patients based on financial incentive.

The report alleges that because transgender patients typically require access to gender-affirming healthcare like hormone replacement therapies (HRT) for the duration of their lives, healthcare providers have intentionally used them to create “unique and lifelong revenue streams” worth millions of dollars each patient’s lifetime.

Lawsuit loopholes

Earlier this year, both Texas Children’s Hospital and Cleveland Clinic reached controversial settlements over billing codes for gender-affirming healthcare for trans youth.

Texas Children’s Hospital agreed to terminate healthcare providers, pay $10 million to the state and establish a “destination clinic” offering care to patients who regret their medical transitions. According to the agreement, “detransition care” will be free-of-charge for the first five years the clinic is open.

An estimated 0.3% to 2% of transgender people who receive gender-affirming healthcare report experiencing some amount of regret. In comparison, roughly 50% of people who receive total knee replacements say they experienced “moderate-to-severe” regret following the procedure.

Cleveland Clinic settled on similar terms: dedicating $2 million to patients seeking “detransition services,” paying a $308,000 fine and instituting a system-wide, 20-year ban on gender-affirming healthcare for transgender youth.

According to reporting by Mother Jones, the settlements indicate that targeting “false billing” practices around gender-affirming healthcare may be an effective method of restricting access to healthcare both for transgender youth and adults.

Civil rights groups condemn report

In a statement posted to their official social media accounts, transgender civil rights nonprofit TransOhio called the report “propaganda, not policy.”

“Laws in Ohio have not changed from this; policies with insurance and doctors have not changed overnight,” the group said. “This report is an escalation in anti-trans rhetoric.”

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) – the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ civil rights group – also released a statement condemning the report, calling it a “sham” and “another blatant attack on the ability of transgender youth to access medically necessary healthcare.”

“You cannot hand-pick a panel of anti-transgender activists, feed it research from anti-trans advocacy organizations, publish the result under an HHS banner, and call that independent science,” said HRC President Kelley Robinson. “This is the same kind of fact-free policymaking that saw the administration this week meddling with childhood vaccinations and taking Medicaid coverage for transition care away from low-income families.”

“We can’t lose sight of the fact that this obsessive and meritless campaign against transition care for youth is causing real harm – real people, families and their children, are suffering at the hands of their own government,” Robinson added. “It’s barbaric, it’s appalling, and it’s a disgrace.”

Contributions from anti-transgender activists

The report includes extensive contributions from notable anti-transgender activists, including CCV President Aaron Baer, Dr. Quentin Van Meter and Independent Women’s Law Center (IWLC) Director May Mailman, who served as the deputy solicitor general of Ohio from 2021 to 2023.

IWLC is a legal project and initiative of the Independent Women’s Forum (IWF), an anti-feminist, anti-transgender right-wing public policy group with growing political influence.

Five of the report’s 10 official contributors are IWF employees.

Mailman also served four years under Trump’s first administration as assistant staff secretary, deputy policy coordinator in the Office of the Chief of Staff and legal advisor in the Office of White House Counsel.

Mailman resigned in 2021 following the attempted insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, but took a leave of absence from IWLC during Trump’s second term to serve as deputy assistant to the president and senior policy strategist.

The report also contains source material from fringe, anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-transgender medical groups, including Do No Harm, an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group that manages a “Stop the Harm Database” tracking clinics and hospitals that have provided gender-affirming health care to transgender youth.

The report also cites the Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine (SEGM) – an SPLC-designated anti-LGBTQ+ hate group that has been a major manufacturer of anti-transgender pseudoscience and medical disinformation across the globe. 🔥

Ignite Action

If you are a young LGBTQ+ person in crisis, please contact the Trevor Project: 866-4-U-Trevor.
If you are an transgender adult in need of immediate help, contact the National Trans Lifeline: 877-565-8860