A group of government workers sued the Trump administration Monday over its policy ending gender-affirming care for adults through federal employee health care programs.

The Human Rights Campaign, a nonprofit that advocates for the LGBTQ+ community, argues in the lawsuit that the White House violated anti-discrimination law when it implemented the change at the start of this year. The group says the new policy has raised health care costs for thousands of federal workers and forced others to find new jobs.

“This categorical denial of treatment for those who require continuing gender-affirming care is akin to denying continuing insulin treatment for someone with diabetes,” the complaint states.

The White House’s Office of Personnel Management issued the new policy quietly last summer through what’s known as a carrier letter. It forbade insurance companies that contract with the largest federal employee benefit programs from covering gender-affirming care regardless of the age of the insured.

It greatly expanded upon a similar prohibition the White House had put in place for minors on federal employee benefits plans.

The anonymous plaintiffs in the lawsuit are listed as transgender or gender-nonconforming federal workers, as well as one federal worker with a transgender child.

One of them, a State Department employee identified as Gregory Goe, has been undergoing hormone replacement therapy for eight years to treat gender dysphoria, according to the complaint. But Goe’s Blue Cross Blue Shield plan through the federal government has stopped covering the treatment.

“His current surgeon will not schedule him for surgery due to a lack of insurance coverage,” the lawsuit states. “Without coverage, Mr. Goe faces over $100,000 in out-of-pocket costs for his treatment.”

Another plaintiff, a U.S. Postal Service employee identified as Patrick Poe, lost gender-affirming care coverage for his transgender daughter, according to the complaint. The change will force Poe’s family to “deplete their savings” to continue the care.

An estimated 40,000 transgender people are covered by health insurance under the affected benefit plans, according to an analysis from the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law. Around one-third of them are federal workers, and another third are their dependents; the remaining are federal retirees and their dependents.

The lawsuit, which the Human Rights Campaign filed with the law firm Correia & Puth, seeks an injunction that would reverse the administration’s policy and restore coverage for gender-affirming care. It also seeks damages on behalf of the plaintiffs and other federal workers affected by the change.

Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, said in a statement that the Trump administration had “weaponized” health care coverage to discriminate against transgender workers and their families.

“This odious policy is the latest example of the Trump administration’s obsession with targeting transgender people, using shameful and cruel tactics to threaten their employment, their health and the well-being of themselves and their families,” Robinson said.

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