National Health Law Program: In Public Comments Urge VA to Stop Excluding Gender-Affirming Care

Executive Summary

In comments to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the National Health law Program urges the agency to amend its regulations to remove a discriminatory provision that excludes gender-affirming care from its medical benefits package. The National Health Law Program’s comments note  there is “consensus in the medical community that gender-affirming surgical procedures are safe, effective, and medically necessary for many transgender individuals,” and that its current provision is harming the at least 134,000 veterans who identify as transgender. Discrimination that blocks transgender veterans from medically necessary care “leads to higher rates of depression, anxiety, minority stress, suicide, and serious psychological distress among transgender individuals than their cisgender peers.”