New rules released Thursday by Florida's Medicaid regulator prohibit the medical program from covering gender-affirming health care.

The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) cut services for treatments such as puberty blockers, hormone therapies and surgical procedures for the treatment of gender dysphoria.

Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, has been vocal in his opposition to such treatments.

The rules cover adults and children. Doctors recommend social transitioning and hormone replacement therapy, not surgery, for children seeking gender-affirming care.

In April, AHCA claimed in a report that such treatments do not improve health outcomes. Other Florida health agencies have questioned the safety of gender-affirming care.

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation's largest LGBTQ rights advocate, said in a statement that the rule change is “contrary to all medical best practices” and criticized the move as politically motivated.

“This new rule is the latest example of the DeSantis Administration shamefully targeting transgender Floridians,” said HRC Legal Director Sarah Warbelow. “The Governor’s administration thinks it knows better than the residents and medical providers of Florida. The purported rationale behind these latest moves to deny medical care to transgender people has been thoroughly debunked time and time again since this effort first surfaced publicly in April.”

“Rather than following the science, the data or the experts, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration instead chose to misinterpret studies, ignore evidence, and lend credence to prejudice – yet again putting the state between patients and doctors for no reason other than political grandstanding. This rule will harm thousands of Floridians when it goes into effect, and it should be reevaluated immediately,” Warbelow said.

HRC said that there are an estimated 9,000 transgender Floridians.