VA treats trangender vets
Chief Tango sends a link to the Army Times which reports that the VA admits that they have treated more than 2500 veterans for gender dysphoria, you know that disorder that the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders says “that childhood issues may play a role in this disorder” meaning it’s not service-connected.
And oh, did I mention that thousands of veterans are in line to get actual problems caused by their service treated? Well, they are.
In 2013, the Veterans Affairs department treated 2,567 veterans with the diagnosis of gender dysphoria with transgender-specific care, according to Ndidi Mojay, a VA spokeswoman. The department does not have a cost estimate for the treatment, which can include male or female hormones depending on gender.
“Few transgender individuals pursue a goal of transformation to the other gender that also includes the complete set of sex reassignment surgeries,” Mojay said in an email. “The VA does not pay for or support sex reassignment surgeries.”
The VA has supported counseling, cross-sex hormone therapy, evaluations for sex reassignment surgeries performed outside the department and post-reassignment surgical care since 2011, Mojay said.
So now, the Army is planning on pushing that Manning fellow to the head of the line at the VHA to get his treatment.
Category: Veterans' Affairs Department
Well isn’t that special. No wonder our real vets are unable to receive support and care, the VA is too busy making sure they are getting hormone therapy for those that need it. Jesus H. Christ on a crutch……
Jonn, Manning regardless of the idiocy of what VA is doing is not elligible for VA Health care. He never will be at the front of any line at VHA. Unless the rules about those with Dishonorable Discharges are changed, he will never even be able to work as a janitor in a VAMC, nevermind get treatment in one.
As to the rest of this.. yup, it is going on.
Just so you know his offenses (Manning) would actually fall under a BCD as well as Bergdahl,and we see how that went down. Thus making ALL the benefits-i.e. educational, medical not available to them by default. That is clearly stated in every service member’s contract. The VA does has not been enforcing these standards for some time now. There are extreme BLACK & WHITE regulations and about getting IN the ARMY so what in the hell is the problem understanding we need some regulations at the VA facilities!? There were no drag queens in garrison……sooooooo….I’m guessing that concludes it is NOT gonna be a LOD service-connected claim,no? There, that was easy!
Yep. If the individual is rated 100% disabled due to disability or unemployability, it’s 100% paid for by Uncle Sugar, too.
I’m pretty sure that if the individual is 50% disabled or greater any copayments for treatment are waived for non-service-connected conditions as well.
Bottom line: yeah, the VA is paying for the transgender-related treatment of a least some vet trannies. And even if they don’t pay for the “slice&dice” or “build a pole” surgeries, the cost for the prescriptions and/or other care associated with such treatment is NOT inconsequential.
Yup, at over 50% you no longer have any co-pays for non service connected treatment.
Which also means that for someone to be receiving the care being discussed for free, they have to be over 50%.
We pay a crap load for all manner of medical and mental health issues that are not service connected. The overwhelming majority of it is not related to this issue. I am not trying to justify it, but it is the reality of the VA that we treat patients for a large number of issues not service connected, and those treatments are quite costly. Should we cut off all non service connected treatments, regardless of disability rating?
Actually, rb325th – I believe that should be “at over 40%”. Last time I checked, VA ratings were in 10% increments, and waiver of copayments starts at the 50% rating.
While this will probably piss off a lot of folks: yes, perhaps it’s time for the VA to re-look copayment waiver for treatment of non-service-connected conditions for anyone who’s not rated 100% disabled. Or at the very least, freaking means-test the copayments – with income reported by the individual under penalty of perjury annually, and cross-checked against IRS data.
Uncle Sam indeed owes vets treatment for conditions incurred or aggravated by military service. But IMO, other than those rated 100% or literally indigent, he doesn’t owe vets squat for anything that’s not service-connected.
I have to respectfully disagree with that, Hondo. That would mean that, just as a veteran becomes very ill and needs care the most, they would get cut off.
My ex has a 100% disability rating, service connected, for injuries received while on active duty. Four years ago, he was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor. The subsequent surgery only removed 99% of the tumor — it would have been a fatal event to attempt to remove the rest. The tumor itself, and the treatment to manage the remaining tumor, has caused insulin-dependent diabetes.
(And yes, that was an expensive treatment. The doctors told us that just the surgery alone, with pre- and post-operative care, would have cost $500,000 in a civilian hospital.)
If a vet who was less than 100% disabled has developed this condition, would you have them cut off because the tumor was not a service related condition?
This will indeed sound cold: but unless the individual could prove they were indigent, IMO the VA should not be paying for that. And in the case of indigence, in most if not all states Medicaid or the equivalent would pick up a big chunk of the cost, if not all of it.
IMO, a vet in such a situation has no better moral claim to free medical care for non-service-connected conditions than does John Smith working for Kroger or the local auto dealer. Simply being a vet doesn’t mean the government owes you a lifetime of free stuff. If able, you’re still expected to take care of yourself. That IMO includes providing for your and your family’s healthcare – either by paying for it “out of pocket” or through some form of health insurance arrangement. Which one you choose depends on how much risk you want to take.
Freedom has its costs – and its risks. And one of those risks is generically called “catastrophically bad luck”. The possibility of such catastrophic conditions is precisely why medical insurance exists – and why high-deductable catastrophic coverage insurance was such an excellent idea.
I say “was” because, unfortunately, you can thank our “Fearless Leader” for essentially killing that option for nearly everyone. I understand catastrophic -only medical insurance (e.g., one with a big honking annual deductable) is damn near impossible to find these days due to the passage of ObamaCare.
I take the other view on this. Absolutely I believe that we should cover our veterans 100 percent, from time of service to time of death.
Two reasons. This nation has plenty of places that we squander money needlessly, that could and should be going to provide for our vets. It would be more than enough to do that easily.
The second reason is that strong young veterans become sick old men eventually. It is never wrong to err on the side of compassion, and if there is anyone who deserves — and has the right to expect! — our compassion, it’s our veterans.
We’ll have to agree to disagree, PN. Had you said “military retirees”, I’d agree.
Yes, most strong young vets do eventually become old men, and many become sick. However, that’s true of non-vets as well. The fact that the Federal government wastes money on many other programs is indeed true – and is likewise irrelevant. That stupidity on the part of the Federal government gives vets no special claim on public resources beyond “care for the injuries I got serving the nation”.
The only reason military retirees IMO have such a moral claim – and IMO, a legal one as well – is that it was part of their retirement package from day one. They opted to make the military a career; ergo, they have a right to expect that as a part of their retirement package. It’s part of their deferred compensation for serving until retirement (or for being medically retired).
In a perfect world, compassion would be free. In the real world, it often comes with costs attached – costs that are paid by others. Because to sum up world economics in 5 words: ” ‘free lunch’ is a myth”.
As a nation, we’re fast approaching being as broke as Enron turned out to be in 2001. We simply cannot afford to keep giving “free stuff” to everyone.
I am guessing you never deployed or served in a comabt arms unit, Hondo?
There are a great deal of changes that need to be or at least should be looked at being changed in how the VA rates disabilities, what is “service connected”, and the amount of benefits we receive.
I think you will find a great deal of this goes back to the VA being told by Congress via lobbyist to increase/accept/pay for any number of things that just do not make a whole lot of sense. 99% of the time the VA increases elligibility it does not come with a corresponding increase in the staff needed to care for the Veterans Properly either.
Hondo- the medical term for the procedure you described as “Slice and dice” is called a Hippemdectomy, the “Build a pole”procedure is called an Addadicktome!
Doesn’t DOD screen these people out at MEPS? I know DADT is dead, but transgender folks are another color of horse. Really?
I was screened at MEPS in 1979, while my junk was being inspected by the Doc, he stopped, looked up at me and said, “now boy, you do like women, don’t you”.
I replied, “absolutely … yes Sir”.
He dropped my junk and I passed the test!
This should come as no surprise. Well, maybe as little surprise.
As I earlier reported on these pages, the VA quietly firmed up its regulation last fall on allowing transgender treatment, since a few hospitals were not keeping up with the more progressive ones. Yeah, they don’t pay for the operation, but they will provide preoperative “prepatory counseling and adjunctive hormone therapy” and will coordinate with the hospital doing the surgery for post operative care.
Chip, chip, chip. One chip at a time.
“Dripping water will wear away the hardest stone.”
I have been to the Phoenix VA many times and the latest in transgender care is as
follows: A procedure known as radio frequency ablation is being performed on male to female veterans so their voices can sound more like a woman. The vocal chords responsible for the lower register are heated up so they no longer work. My wife’s step-father is a 67 year old transgender veteran and his friend, a 72 man/woman had this done recently. I have met this man/woman and the quack who performed this procedure has far too much time on his hands and should have his medical license revoked. The clown who does these procedures is, according to my wife’s step-father, Dr. Sheldon Brown, M.D., D.D.S. If you want this outrageous waste of money to stop, call or write the Phoenix VA, a veterans group or one or more of the politicians who are investigating the VA scandal.
2567 eh? Someone please help me understand how this is a service connected problem warranting treatment by the VA. What, was it looking at guys in the shower or something? Gimme a friggin’ break. The VA seems to have no problem saying YES to shit like this, while real Vets with real service connected problems are being told NO or WAIT…FOREVER.
Sparks: see my and rb325th’s comments above. Much of the medical care the VA provides today is for non-service-connected stuff. That’s one reason why the VA’s budget now is over $150 billion annually – or approaching 1/3 of DoD’s budget.
Reminds me of a tune from the 80s:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=a0fzeVbicd4&feature=kp
From everything I’ve read, gender dysphoria is a real disorder that’s actually caused in utero by a hormone imbalance during second trimester. I also read it’s ridiculously rare. That just seems like a really high number of veterans that were treated. People with this problem are aware of it very early in their childhood, so I’m somewhat doubtful about so many of these people all of a sudden coming out and claiming this disorder that late in life.
Yeah, but why in the wide, wide, world of sports would someone claim THAT as opposed to any number of other things that wouldn’t make people cringe? If one has it, he’ sick and if one doesn’t have it but claims he does, that’s sicker.
Probably because 1) VA will pay for it, and 2) it’s an attempt to normalize it. But those are just guesses on my part. I really have no clue.
No argument that the condition exists, Nicki. However, it would also appear to be a preexisting condition that would neither be caused nor aggravated by military service.
So why is the VA paying to treat people for it?
I agree there. I’m also a bit stunned by the sheer number of people all of a sudden claiming GID.
There is a trend that I think of as “the one-in-four phenomenon.” You’ll see a condition that is first identified, somewhere on the order of 1-in-100 sufferers. Watch that malady for awhile, and it will drop to 1-in-20. Then it will drop to 1-in-10. Then, 1-in-8. Then it will go to 1-in-4. And there it sits.
So that’s how to avoid being put on the waiting list. Just claim gender dysphoria that was aggravated by military service due to cisgender heteronormative bigotry. or something.
Finally … I have a place to go .. I mean … Ah … Never mind!
Maybe we should all try gender reassignment.
It might get us quicker appointments.
It seems to me that I read that Manning will not be treated by VA, but by the Fed Prison System. Same tax dollars but different agency.
I myself live on 20″ away from a very well run VA hospital, but because I was lucky enough to make good choices in my career, I retired with great bennies and a very good health plan. So I choose to go to whatever is the best medical care is necessary for my family.
When I say “good choices” this did not happen in a vacuum but was planned by myself and my wife. Please do not take this the wrong way as I know that everyone cannot have the fore site, cash, or whatever else is required to make well informed decisions. Again I say I was one of the lucky not “privileged” as some would argue. To all Vets – BZ
I have this problem. I simply can’t hide it from any of you any more.
I am not happy with who I am. I feel strongly, and have felt for a very long time, that I am a squirrel – er, woman – woman condemned to live in a human woman’s body.
Unfortunately, this means that I start looking at human men instead of at squirrelmen.
I don’t know what to do about it. I am extremely confused.
Do you think the VA will help me out?
Speaking for the VA EX-PH2 I will deny you request for trans-squireel surgery based on the findings.
1. During your time in service non of your medical exams showed you to exhibit any physical evidence of being a squirrel. You did not have
1. A pointy nose that wrinkled up
2. A Bushy Tail ( that it would wiggle is not a qualifier in itself)
3 Though you wore glasses you were not bright eyed or beady eyed
4. Though you may have been surrounded by nuts and cracked a few there was never any photographic or documented evidence that you stored them in your cheeks.
5. The final reason for your denial is that during to the Secrecy involved. any mention of being a squirrel by the applicant will automatically void the claim.
++1.
Jonn/TAH Admins,
If you really want to know how service members/vets feel about you guys..
http://www.reddit.com/r/Military/comments/26n9fv/thoughts_on_thisainthell/