Dr. Oz Slams Cost of Care for Trans Minors, Says Penis Surgery ‘Costs 150,000,’ and ‘Extra’ for Testicles

Dr. Mehmet Oz is drawing attention to the cost of certain gender-affirming procedures as the Trump administration moves to restrict access to gender-affirming care for minors — even as experts and providers note that most children do not undergo those surgeries.

According to the Daily Beast, Oz — the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) — criticized what he described as inflated pricing during a Dec. 18 announcement tied to CMS’ decision to partially prohibit hospitals from providing puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgeries to minors.

“A vaginoplasty — a procedure a child does not need — costs $60,000,” Oz, 65, said, per the outlet. “Shockingly, a phalloplasty, the creation of a penis, costs, on average, in America, $150,000 per child.”

He also suggested that pricing has risen due to demand he believes is being driven artificially. “I do believe, with doing some work, that these prices have continued to increase due to increased manufactured demand,” he continued. “A scrotalplasty, where you add testicles? That’s extra.”

Oz’s figures differ from costs cited by providers that perform gender-affirming surgeries — procedures that, according to those same providers, are generally not performed on minors. The Gender Confirmation Center reports that a vaginoplasty typically costs between $23,000 and $24,500, while a phalloplasty can range from $35,000 to $50,000.

The Boston Children’s Hospital Center for Gender Surgery and the Gender Confirmation Center both state that phalloplasty and vaginoplasty are not recommended for transgender patients under 18, according to the Daily Beast. Transhealthcare.org likewise states that genital surgery for patients under 18 is “extremely rare,” and the Gender Confirmation Center says it does not perform either procedure on anyone under 18.

Oz’s comments came as the Department of Health and Human Services announced steps aimed at ending transition-related care — what it has called “s**-rejecting procedures” — for minors.

According to NBC News, the administration’s proposals would bar hospitals that provide transgender care to children from receiving federal funding. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said at a Dec. 18 press conference that doctors who provide trans healthcare to minors “provide needless and irreversible sex-rejecting procedures that violate their sacred Hippocratic Oath, endangering the very lives that they are sworn to safeguard.”

“The American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics lie that chemical and surgical sex-rejecting procedures could be good for children who suffer from gender dysphoria,” Kennedy, 71, said, per NBC News. “This is not medicine, it is malpractice.”

Nearly all U.S. hospitals participate in Medicare and Medicaid.

“We’re announcing a notice of proposed rulemaking that ends taxpayer funding of sex-rejecting procedures for children in Medicaid and CHIP [Children’s Health Insurance Program, a federally funded program for uninsured kids], full stop,” Oz added. “We’re not going to let taxpayer money go to hurt these children.”

Doctors and advocates criticized the administration’s proposal, arguing that the federal government should not be determining what care patients can receive.

Dr. Susan Kressly, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, told NBC News that the new “policies and proposals misconstrue the current medical consensus and fail to reflect the realities of pediatric care and the needs of children and families.”

“Allowing the government to determine which patient groups deserve care sets a dangerous precedent,” Kressly said. “Children and families will bear the consequences.”

Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, also condemned the move in a statement. “The Trump administration is relentless in denying health care to this country, and especially the transgender community,” Robinson said. “Families deserve the freedom to go to the doctor and get the care that they need and to have agency over the health and well-being of their children.”

In addition to restricting medications and surgeries, Kennedy said the administration would no longer classify gender dysmorphia as a disability and would pursue regulations around physical gender-affirming aids.

Kennedy said the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would issue warnings to manufacturers of breast binders — often used by transgender youth to minimize the appearance of breasts — and threaten seizures and “significant regulatory violations” if the products are “illegally” marketed to children.