{"id":68008,"date":"2018-09-12T19:19:26","date_gmt":"2018-09-12T19:19:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/09\/12\/va-undecided-on-whether-to-pay-for-sex-reassignment-surgery\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T13:00:00","slug":"va-undecided-on-whether-to-pay-for-sex-reassignment-surgery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/veterans\/2018\/09\/12\/va-undecided-on-whether-to-pay-for-sex-reassignment-surgery\/","title":{"rendered":"VA undecided on whether to pay for sex reassignment surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 Veterans Affairs officials are still evaluating whether to fund <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2016\/06\/03\/new-rule-would-let-va-provide-sex-reassignment-surgery-to-transgender-vets\/\" target=_blank>sex reassignment surgeries<\/a> for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2018\/02\/26\/dod-first-openly-transgender-recruit-has-signed-contract\/\" target=_blank>transgender veterans<\/a> following a months-long push from advocates asking the department to reverse its opposition to the procedure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last week, a group of 83 House members (82 Democrats and one Republican) petitioned <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2018\/07\/23\/senate-confirms-robert-wilkie-as-next-va-secretary-but-with-opposition\/\" target=_blank>VA Secretary Robert Wilkie<\/a> to make the change, calling the current department policy discriminatory and potentially harmful to the health of those veterans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSimply put, the VA has an obligation to provide the necessary care that is prescribed to enrolled veterans by their health care practitioners,\u201d the group said in a letter to Wilke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt is unconscionable to deny veterans the same access to health care services that civilians receive in the private sector, and that is available to Medicare beneficiaries and federal workers, simply because of outdated and unscientific prejudice against their gender identity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/veterans\/2018\/07\/10\/va-secretary-nominee-promises-protections-for-transgender-veterans\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"205\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_18138650153010.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">VA secretary nominee promises care for all vets, including transgender veterans<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">In statements to senators, Robert Wilkie also promised to keep suicide prevention as the department&#039;s top clinical priority.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rep. Julia Brownley, D-Calif., led that effort and in a statement called it \u201cunacceptable that we would ask our veterans to risk their lives to protect our rights but we would refuse to defend theirs in return.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The move came at the end of a two-month comment period on the possible policy change. VA officials have discussed allowing the surgeries to be covered in the last few years, but have not made any updates, prompting some advocates to sue the department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">VA spokesman Curt Cashour said the department is reviewing comments collected during the summer on the issue and will announce any changes through formal federal channels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In his confirmation hearing in July, Wilkie pledged the department would ensure that veterans seeking help from his VA \u201cwill all be treated with the respect and the support they deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When specifically asked about transgender veterans \u2014 and President Donald Trump\u2019s past comments that the military should not provide medical treatments to transgender troops \u2014 Wilkie said that VA \u201cis proud to provide care, benefits and othe VA services to all veterans, including transgender veterans. That policy will remain unchanged.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a statement, Human Rights Campaign spokeswoman Charlotte Clymer said the current VA policy \u201cflies in the face of every major medical authority and undermines the health and wellbeing of transgender patriots who have laid their lives on the line for this country and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">VA does provide medical support services for transgender individuals before and after sex reassignment surgery, but not the procedure itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Advocates estimate there are 160,000 transgender veterans in America today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Caring for our military servicemen &amp; women is one of our top priorities. And, for the more than 163,000 transgender veterans who selflessly answered the call to service, that means ensuring they have ability to access gender affirming surgeries. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/EEQo173aWD\">https:\/\/t.co\/EEQo173aWD<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Elizabeth Esty (@Elizabeth_Esty) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Elizabeth_Esty\/status\/1039249250608144384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 10, 2018<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A group of 83 lawmakers petitioned the VA secretary to update department policies and allow federal dollars to cover the procedure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":89934,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":19,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,23,89,12,26,62,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3222],"class_list":["post-68008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress","category-veterans"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"2J7DA5XQQFCGPE4G6L7CSKW4ZU","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/2018\/09\/12\/va-undecided-on-whether-to-pay-for-sex-reassignment-surgery\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>VA undecided on whether to pay for sex reassignment surgery - Navy Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A group of 83 lawmakers petitioned the VA secretary to update department policies and allow federal dollars to cover the procedure.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"VA undecided on whether to pay for sex reassignment surgery\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A group of 83 lawmakers petitioned the VA secretary to update department policies and allow federal dollars to cover the procedure.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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