UPDATE: Oregon-led challenge keeps block on federal gender-affirming care funding threat

(KTVZ) -- A federal judge has denied a motion by the Trump administration to narrow a court ruling that blocked a federal directive threatening to cut Medicare and Medicaid funding from providers of gender-affirming care for minors.

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield announced the court decision, which leaves in place a broad block against the federal policy.

The decision maintains an April 2026 court ruling that struck down the policy issued by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Oregon led a coalition of more than 20 states in challenging the federal directive, arguing that the federal government lacks the authority to threaten funding or set medical standards for state-regulated health care.

In December 2025, Kennedy issued a directive warning doctors and hospitals that they could lose Medicare and Medicaid funding if they continued providing gender-affirming care to minors. In April 2026, a federal court agreed with the state coalition and struck down the directive entirely. The court found that Kennedy overstepped his authority, skipped required legal procedures and interfered with the authority of states to regulate medical care and manage their Medicaid programs.

Following the April ruling, the Trump administration asked the federal court to scale back its decision so it would apply only to a narrow set of federal officials rather than blocking the directive across the board. The court rejected that motion, ruling that the original decision stands and reasserting that the federal government lacks authority to establish medical standards of care for gender-affirming treatment.

Oregon Rayfield issued a statement following the court's denial of the administration's motion. “Every family deserves the freedom to make deeply personal health care decisions with their doctors,” Rayfield said. “That principle is what this fight has always been about. We will keep standing up for the families in Oregon who deserve to make these decisions for themselves.”