ORLANDO, Fla. — A bill currently being considered by the Florida Legislature would prohibit gender transition treatment for anyone under 18.

And thanks to an amendment tacked on to Senate Bill 254 last week, it would also prevent health insurance providers from paying for any gender transition treatment, regardless of the patient's age.

“What You Need To Know

  • A measure is being considered in the Florida Legislature that would prohibit gender transition care for anyone under 18

  • The current iteration of the bill, CS/SB 254, would also affect gender transition care, like hormone treatments, for transgender adults

  • Chris Stoll, an attorney for the National center for Lesbian rights, says if signed into law, he doesn’t think the measure will stand up to federal constitutional challenges

A proponent of the bill, House Rep. Randy Fine, says it will protect the health of Florida’s children and accused the "woke left" of using children as "guinnea pigs."

The bill would also affect gender transition care for transgender adults. 

Once a week, Lana Dunn takes medication — a hormone treatment — part of her gender transition care as a transgender woman.  But Dunn says that lab work and medication, which would cost her hundreds of dollars out of pocket each month, would not be affordable without insurance. 

And she says she could lose her insurance through work because Senate Bill 254 would prohibit insurance companies from paying for any gender transition care, treatment or procedures.

“If access to commercial insurance goes away, then a lot of people are going to be really in trouble — they’re not going to have access to their medications,” said Dunn.  “If insurance can’t cover the cost of necessary lab work, then we’re essentially saying you can’t monitor your health, which is unreasonable.”

But Dunn isn’t just worried about losing access to her medication. As the COO of Spektrum Health in Orlando, she manages care for thousands of patients in Florida and across the country. 

Dunn says if the proposed gender transition legislation passes, it would prevent the clinic’s nurse practitioner from prescribing potentially life-saving gender transition treatment. 

With more than half of the clinic’s patients relying on that medication, she says if insurance stops covering it, she may not be able to continue the work she does.

“I can’t even fathom — it boggles my mind that I’ll have to start over from nothing again,” said Dunn. “I’ve poured everything into this place since I came out and came to this practice, first as a patient and then as an employee and a servant for my community.”

Dunn says just the threat of losing access to care is already having a huge impact.

“There’s a lot of fear and uncertainty,” said Dunn.  “We’re already losing patients from the practice out of fear because people are leaving the state — people are fleeing.”

Dunn says with the future of her work and access to care both uncertain, she also might have to move away from Florida — so she decided to not re-sign her apartment lease.  She’s now living with a friend, and says she knows at some point, if the bill passes, she’ll have to make some tough decisions.

“It’s painful, and it’s just one example of how my life has been turned upside down by this cruel legislation, this cruel attempt to legislate my existence away,” said Dunn. “But the fact of the matter is, you can take away my medications but you can’t take away my identity — nobody can take that away from me."