Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General TJ Donovan joined a coalition of nine states and the District of Columbia urging the US Department of Veterans Affairs to provide transgender veterans access to medically necessary health care. In the amicus (“friend of the court”) brief filed today in Fulcher v. Secretary of Veterans Affairs, the 10 Attorneys General, led by Bob Ferguson of Washington, ask the US Court of Appeals for The Federal Circuit to order the VA to amend or repeal a rule that prevents transgender veterans from using their medical benefits to cover sex reassignment surgery.
Attorney General Donovan said: "Gender identity should not dictate whether a veteran is eligible for care. All veterans must get the care they need. I am committed to standing up to this kind of discrimination, for our veterans and for all our citizens.”
Since 1999, the department has excluded “gender alterations” from eligible veterans’ medical benefits packages. The implementing directive states “sex reassignment surgery cannot be performed or funded by VA.”
In May 2016, US Marine Corps veteran Dee Fulcher, US Army veteran Giuliano Silva and other transgender veterans submitted a petition asking the VA to change the rule. The VA initially considered issuing a notice of rulemaking, but withdrew its consideration in November 2016. Fulcher and the other petitioners filed a lawsuit in January.
The VA refuses to cover surgical services for transgender veterans while covering similar services for non-transgender veterans, such as mastectomies and hysterectomies.
The VA provides no legitimate basis for refusing to follow the medical community’s protocols for treating transgender people. Vermont and the attorneys general from Washington, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon and the District of Columbia, argue that conduct unlawfully perpetuates civil rights violations in the US healthcare system.
The Attorneys General present evidence that covering sex reassignment surgery will not significantly raise health care costs and premiums. Many of the states joining the brief ensure equal access to health care services, and none has seen a significant increase in costs.
Transgender individuals face physical suffering, depression and suicidal thoughts when they are denied or unable to access medically necessary health care, including sex reassignment surgery. Untreated individuals who suffer from distress due to the stigma surrounding their gender identity are at higher risk for turning to alcohol or drug use. If the more than 150,000 transgender veterans, active service members and reserves serving their country continue to lack access to the necessary medical care they need, the costs associated with these potential negative health effects would fall upon the states.
The states argue that the negative effects of the VA rule significantly outweigh the costs of covering transgender health services.
Source: Vermont AG 7.3.2017