Transgender Children and Adolescents Receiving Care in the US Military Health Care System

In the United States, approximately 0.7% of the population identifies as transgender. Transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) youth may experience poor health outcomes and identity-based discrimination within the health care setting. However, these disparities may be attenuated in gender-affirming environments. Until September 2016, gender-affirming care was not covered for the 1.7 million youth who may be eligible for military health system (MHS) care based on their parents’ current or prior service. At that point, a new Department of Defense policy was enacted that allowed military dependents to receive full coverage for nonsurgical TGD-associated care.5 However, the extent to which military-affiliated TGD youth receive military-provided and civilian care paid for through Tricare Prime, an MHS insurance plan, is unknown. The current study aims to determine health care use trends among TGD youth in the MHS, which provides services at no or low personal cost. These data will help inform future policy and determine the necessity of health care professional training and resource allocation.