Combat wounded veterans wait times will increase to accommodate the transgenders.
The Department of Veterans Affairs is considering whether to end a ban on gender reassignment surgeries for disabled veterans, and it is seeking public input.
Since 1999, the VA has excluded “gender alterations” from its medical benefits package. For another two weeks, the VA is taking comments about a proposal to remove that ban for veterans who have a high enough disability rating to qualify them for comprehensive medical care from the VA. Comments are being accepted through Sept. 7.
“VA will consider the comments received and determine the appropriate response,” said VA Press Secretary Curt Cashour. “Although there is no specific time frame required for this type of consideration, VA will announce any action it takes in the Federal Register.”
The VA said it began accepting comments in response to a petition it received in May 2016 under former President Barack Obama. At the time, the Transgender American Veterans Association petitioned the VA to offer medically necessary sex reassignment surgery to treat gender dysphoria, a condition that involves a conflict between a person’s physical gender and the gender with which they identify.
The American Psychiatric Association and American Medical Association support gender reassignment surgery as a treatment.
Citing the VA’s lack of response by 2017, the petitioners filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s administration. The suit is ongoing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Harper Jean Tobin, director of policy for the National Center for Transgender Equality, said the court case likely prompted the VA to finally act.
“We believe this is a unique opportunity to force the department to make a decision about an issue that it has been avoiding, and to do the right thing for veterans,” Tobin said.
Until recently, many American health insurers marked gender reassignment procedures as ineligible for coverage. Then, the Affordable Care Act created laws prohibiting sex discrimination, including transgender discrimination. Some states passed laws preventing the procedures from being excluded from their benefits packages. Most large employers also moved to lift the restrictions, Tobin said.
“It seems like the VA is the lone holdout hanging onto this exclusion,” said Zander Keig, a Coast Guard veteran and transgender man.