This blog is part of our 89th Legislative Session Recap series. Click here to learn more about how the bills passed this session will affect you & your community.
Official Bill Caption
Relating to required health benefit plan coverage for gender transition adverse effects and reversals
What it Does
SB 1257 requires insurance companies to cover unlimited liability for “all possible adverse consequences” related to gender transition-related care. It takes effect September 1, 2025.
Why it Matters
This bill will effectively create a discriminatory “Trans Tax.” It is a wholly transparent effort to discourage health insurance providers from covering transition-related care, or to make coverage so expensive that it’s unobtainable. It is important to note that counseling and therapy are included under the umbrella of transition-related care. Cutting off access to these critical services could have deadly consequences for the transgender community—especially in Texas, where our leaders have been unrelenting in their cruel attacks on LGBTQIA+ Texans.
Transgender Texans deserve the same quality of care and freedom to make medical decisions as their neighbors. They deserve dignity, support, and access to care, not punitive laws crafted to make their existence harder.
What’s Next
In 2026, Texas Freedom Network and our youth organizing arm, Texas Rising Action, will endorse candidates who fight for every Texan’s right to live with dignity, make decisions about their own identity and future, and be free from government interference—whether that’s in the doctor’s office, the classroom, or at home. We are mobilizing communities across the state to ensure the voices of young people, LGBTQIA+ Texans, and communities of color lead the path forward.
