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Massachusetts bill would put $3.5 million of taxpayer money in a fund to pay for puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for children

Thursday, June 11, 2026•
3 min read
MDN Staff
•
Massachusetts bill would put $3.5 million of taxpayer money in a fund to pay for puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for children

The Senate's April supplemental budget would seed a state trust fund built to keep paying for 450 MassHealth minors on hormones and 98 on puberty blockers.

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BOSTON — A Massachusetts budget bill that's still being negotiated at the State House would put $3.5 million of taxpayer money into a state fund built to keep paying for puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for children if the Trump administration pulls federal Medicaid funding.
Here's where things stand.
The fund itself was already set up — quietly, as a side section of last year's state budget that Governor Maura Healey signed in July 2025. But the fund was empty. Nobody had put any money in it.
That changed in April 2026, when the state Senate passed a supplemental budget bill that includes a $3.5 million seed for the fund. That bill is now in conference committee — the back-room negotiation where the House and Senate hash out a final version before sending it to Healey to sign. A final vote could come within weeks.
If the seed survives the negotiation — which it usually does for line items that pass both chambers — the fund will be funded for the first time.

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Per WGBH, Massachusetts state data shows the fund is built to cover:
  • 450 MassHealth beneficiaries under the age of 18 who got cross-sex hormones last fiscal year
  • 98 MassHealth beneficiaries under the age of 18 who got puberty blockers
  • An undisclosed number of adults on MassHealth getting the same treatments

What the fund actually does

The fund is built so Massachusetts taxpayers can keep covering "gender-affirming care" for kids and adults on MassHealth even if the federal government stops paying for it under the Trump administration.
It is formally called the Affirming Health Care Trust Fund — written into state law at M.G.L. c. 111 § 2K and tucked into Outside Section 42 of the FY2026 state budget signed last summer. Sponsors and supporters include Senator Julian Cyr (D-Truro) and Representatives Sam Montaño (D-Jamaica Plain) and Marjorie Decker (D-Cambridge).
The fund is also structured to accept private donations on top of state money. Once it's seeded, it can keep growing.

What's next

The conference committee is meeting now. A final vote could come within weeks. If the $3.5 million stays in, Massachusetts taxpayers pay. If the conference strips it, the fund stays empty — for now.
This is a developing story.

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Massachusetts bill would put $3.5 million of taxpayer money in a fund to pay for puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for children - Mass Daily News