‘Wolves in White Coats’: A Federal Report Reaches Into Virginia

A new federal report on pediatric “gender medicine” reaches into Virginia — and, the Family Foundation argues, onto the November ballot.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has released a 64-page report, “Wolves in White Coats,” alleging that hospitals across the country billed insurers for puberty-blocking drugs given to minors using vague or mismatched diagnosis codes.

The report identifies roughly $50 million in such claims coded under a non-specific endocrine disorder between 2015 and 2025 — including $11 million for teenagers billed under a “precocious puberty” code, a diagnosis that normally applies to children under nine. HHS calls these billing “signals,” not proven fraud; it describes the findings as evidence of “potential” large-scale fraud and has referred providers to the Justice Department and its own Inspector General for review. Appearing on the list means a provider filed at least one such claim — not that it has been found to have done anything wrong. Major medical associations dispute the report’s framing and defend the treatments as appropriate care.

Two Virginia entities appear in that appendix: Chippenham & Johnston-Willis Hospital in Richmond and Pediatric Specialists of Virginia. Their inclusion flags a billing pattern for review — nothing more has been established. The Family Foundation of Virginia, which surfaced the Virginia names, argues the stakes reach the ballot: it reads the marriage amendment’s separation of “sex” and “gender,” and the abortion amendment’s fertility-care language, as openings that could entrench these practices for minors without parental consent. That is the Family Foundation’s reading of the amendment text, which voters can weigh for themselves.

We hold, as conviction, that God made humanity male and female, and that a child’s body is not a defect to be corrected but an image-bearer to be protected. The children in these accounts are not the villains of the story; they are its casualties. Our quarrel is with an ideology — and, if this report is borne out, a set of financial incentives — that told frightened families a permanent path was the compassionate one. Watch the Family Foundation’s report above, guard the children, and leave the judging of hearts to God.