Pennsylvania taxpayers have paid $16 million for child gender reassignment surgeries: report

Pennsylvania taxpayers have reportedly spent millions on gender reassignment treatments for minors through a state run medical program.

The state's Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) covers such procedures for low-income minors and, since 2015, has used more than $16 million in taxpayer funds to provide them, according to the Epoch Times.

Data from the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, which the Pennsylvania Family Institute (PFI) obtained, documented such expenditures from 2015-2022. The data showed that state expenditure on gender treatments has increased every year during that window, with Harrisburg spending a mere $78,000 in 2015 compared to $3.9 million in 2021.

The PFI observed that the CHIP program previously did not cover a slew of gender-related surgeries, but that Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf had expanded coverage upon taking office.

"When Gov. Wolf took office, he unilaterally changed state policy to cover things like double mastectomies to remove healthy breasts from minor girls and irreversible experimental hormones for children," the PFI's Emily Kreps said, per the outlet. "The same drugs used to chemically castrate convicted sex offenders are being funded by tax dollars for minors."

The exact number of minors who received state-funded gender transition treatments was not apparent in the data, the outlet noted.