Thursday, January 1, 2026 the administration’s policy eliminating insurance coverage for gender-affirming care under federal health insurance went into effect. On the same day federal employees came forward and filed a legal complaint challenging it. 

According to AP News the complaint was filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) by the Human RIghts Campaign (HRC). The complaint asks for the government to rescind the change, arguing that the policy constitutes sex-based discrimination. 

The policy was originally announced in August of 2025 by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). With the agency describing gender-affirming care as the “chemical and surgical modifications of an individual’s sex traits through medical interventions”. The complaint points out that this won’t just affect transgender federal employees themselves but federal workers with transgender spouses, children, and dependents. 

So far four federal employees have provided their own testimonies stating how they would be directly affected by the loss of coverage. In one instance involving a Postal Service employee, he talked about his daughter who was diagnosed with gender dysphoria, whose doctors recommended puberty blockers and possible hormone replacement therapy, which will now no longer be covered. 

Furthermore the HRC argues that the policy isn’t based on cost or medical evidence. With the HRC President Kelley Robinson going on to state that the policy is intended to discourage transgender people and their families from remaining in the federal workforce.