No. HB 681
Filed under Healthcare.
Health Care; Repeals provisions relating to sex-reassignment prescriptions & procedures & civil liability for provision of sex-reassignment prescriptions or procedures to minors, respectively; requires covered entity to adopt policy relating to providing notice of its refused services; requires DOH to publish & maintain on its website current list of covered entities & their refused services & develop & administer public education & awareness program; revises timeframe in which physician may perform termination of pregnancy; requires AHCA to provide Medicaid reimbursement for medically necessary treatment for or related to gender dysphoria or comparable or equivalent diagnoses; prohibits AHCA from discriminating in reimbursement on basis of recipient's gender identity or that recipient is transgender individual.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDAbortion becomes legal through the second trimester for any reason, replacing the current 6-week cutoff. Physicians may again prescribe medication abortion by telehealth and mail the pills to patients, both previously banned.
Repeals the ban on prescribing puberty blockers, hormones, or surgery to affirm a minor's gender identity, along with its civil-liability law. Gender-affirming care can no longer trigger emergency child-custody seizure or a doctor's immediate license suspension.
Any hospital or clinic that relies on a 'denial of care' law to refuse a service must publish that refusal list, notify patients in writing before treatment, and report it to the Department of Health, facing fines up to $5,000 a day for noncompliance.
Medicaid must cover medically necessary treatment for gender dysphoria and cannot discriminate based on gender identity. The state's pregnancy support network must now spend at least 90% of its funding, up from 85%, directly on services.
AIAbortion is no longer barred once a fetus is more than 6 weeks along. Instead, it becomes legal for any reason through the second trimester, and is barred only once the pregnancy reaches the third trimester (absent a life-threatening emergency).
AIWipes out the law barring doctors from prescribing puberty blockers, hormones, or performing procedures to affirm a minor's gender identity, along with its companion civil-liability statute (s. 766.318) and the definitions that supported both.
AIRepeals the requirement that abortion medication be dispensed only in person by a physician and the ban on mailing it, so physicians may again prescribe medication abortion via telehealth and send pills to patients.
AIStrikes gender-affirming care for a minor as a basis for a warrant to take physical custody of a child, and as a basis for a Florida court to claim emergency custody jurisdiction over a child receiving it.
AIAny hospital or clinic that relies on a law letting it opt out of a health care service must adopt and publish a complete list of its refused services, give patients written notice before treatment, and report the list to the Department of Health, or face a fine of up to $5,000 per day.
AIAHCA must reimburse medically necessary treatment for gender dysphoria or a comparable diagnosis, and may not discriminate in reimbursement based on a recipient's gender identity or transgender status.
AIAgency rules for abortion clinics must now be written so they cannot impose an unconstitutional burden on a person's decision to end a pregnancy, a new limit on the agency's rulemaking power.
AIThe Florida Pregnancy Care Network must now spend at least 90% of its state contract funds directly on pregnancy support and wellness services, up from 85%, while material assistance like diapers and car seats is dropped from the funded service list.