Vance Refers Gender Clinics to DOJ for Fraud

Vice President JD Vance on Thursday referred hospitals and pediatric gender clinics to the Justice Department, asking prosecutors to determine whether providers broke federal fraud laws in how they billed insurers for sex-change treatment of minors.

The referral followed the release of a 64-page report from the Department of Health and Human Services titled "Wolves in White Coats," which the agency says documents irreparable "harm to America's youth."

Vance accused providers of subjecting children to what he called "horrific, experimental treatments in service of radical gender ideologies," and said the report shows the motive was money.

The Numbers in the Report

According to the HHS report, roughly $50 million in insurance claims for puberty blockers were billed using an endocrine disorder diagnosis code.

Nearly $11 million in claims for patients ages 13 to 17 were billed using a diagnosis code for precocious puberty, the report says.

The report counts more than 225 hospitals and health systems nationwide running pediatric gender programs, and says treatment can run up to $170,000 per patient when surgery is included.

HHS argues those coding patterns obscured what care was actually delivered to children — and that the financial incentive drove it.