Transgender veterans sue the VA for gender-affirming surgery
The Department of Veterans Affairs excludes gender-confirming surgery from veteran health benefits, even though major medical groups say it can be lifesaving.
An advocacy group for transgender veterans is suing the government over its exclusion of gender-confirmation surgery in veterans’ health benefits.
The Department of Veterans Affairs covers almost all transition-related care for veterans, including hormone therapy, voice training, fertility preservation and hair removal. However, if trans veterans want to receive surgery — such as genital and breast procedures — they are required to either use private health insurance or pay out of pocket. Such operations are covered for active-duty service members.
The Transgender American Veterans Association, or TAVA, formed in 2003, filed a petition in May 2016 asking the VA to start a rulemaking process to amend its health benefits to cover gender-confirmation surgery for trans veterans. In the almost eight years since, the VA has not responded to or denied the petition, despite agency officials saying publicly over the years that the department will change the policy.
TAVA’s lawsuit, filed Thursday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., asks it to compel the VA to respond to its 2016 petition within a reasonable time.
TAVA President Rebekka Eshler told NBC News on Wednesday ahead of the filing that transgender veterans often email her asking when the policy will change, because they struggle with persistent gender dysphoria — and sometimes even suicidal ideation — when they can’t access the care they need. Gender dysphoria is the distress that results from a misalignment between someone’s sex assigned at birth and their gender identity.
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