The Political and Legal Landscape for Gender-Affirming Care and Transgender Health: Implications for Nursing Practice

Gender-affirming care (GAC) refers to patient care in any setting or for any purpose that affirms a patient's gender identity. Policies impacting transgender, nonbinary, and gender diverse people's access to GAC include those that impose patient age requirements, protect patients from insurance discrimination, determine what care is covered in public and private insurance, force schools to out transgender students, and allow providers to conscientiously object to treating transgender patients. In an era of strengthening policy restrictions on GAC and anti-transgender sentiment, nurses need to be aware of these policies and their potential effects on health care delivery and population health.