A group of American military veterans have filed a lawsuit against the United States Department of Veteran Affairs for not including genital alteration surgeries in the health benefits offered to service members who identify as transgender.
The lawsuit was filed by the Transgender American Veterans Association (TAVA) in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 25.
“Three years ago today, President Biden repealed the military’s ban on transgender service members,” said Rebekka Eshler, the President of TAVA, in a Jan. 25 press release. “Yet when we return from service, we do not receive the same level of healthcare from the VA that other veterans do. The natural next step toward transgender people’s true inclusion in the military is for the VA to remedy this gap.”
“Transgender veterans have waited far too long for the VA to provide the gender-affirming surgery so many of us need to survive. We hope that this lawsuit will force Secretary McDonough to follow through on what he has been promising us since 2021. We’re tired of empty promises; we need care,” said Eshler.
The group petitioned the VA in 2016 to have the surgeries – sometimes referred to as gender-confirmation surgeries – covered by the federal medical benefits offered to veterans. The organization has argued the eight-year delay left transgender-identifying veterans in “limbo.”
“They are repeatedly assured by the secretary that VA-provided [gender-affirmation surgery] will be available, but are given no indication of when nor which procedures will be covered,” lawyers from the Veterans Legal Services Clinic at Yale Law School wrote on behalf of TAVA in a November letter to the Department of Veteran Affairs, per Military.com.
VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes subsequently told the outlet via email that the request for genital surgeries was “being considered carefully and thoroughly, with full understanding of its importance and urgency.”
“It's our mission at VA to provide transgender veterans — and all veterans — with the world-class care and benefits they deserve,” said Hayes.
Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough announced in June of 2021 that the VA would provide genital surgeries to transgender-identifying veterans, later predicting the policy approval process would take two to three years. He told NPR in July of 2021 President Joe Biden had directed him to be “a fierce advocate for veterans” and to “make sure that we're doing the best that we can, offering world-class health care and timely access to benefits for all veterans.”
“We estimate about 543 veterans annually will be eligible for the surgery,” added McDonough. “The cost projection is ... anywhere from just over a million dollars a year to somewhere closer to $30 million a year. … It could get up to as much as $71 million all in by 2028.”
In its new lawsuit, TAVA says it “cites myriad evidence that gender-confirmation surgery dramatically reduces the risks of suicidal ideation, depression, and psychological distress for transgender people who live with gender dysphoria.”
The lawsuit contends the VA’s delay violates the Administrative Procedure Act because the decision has not been made by the agency in a reasonable amount of time.
