VA Secretary Doug Collins holds up his dogtags on Jan. 21, 2025, during his Senate confirmation hearing. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
WASHINGTON — Veterans seeking transgender-related medical treatments “will have to do so on their own dime,” Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins said Monday, as he announced an end to health coverage for gender dysphoria.
The VA is phasing out what is known as cross-sex hormone therapy as well prosthetics for veterans with a medical diagnosis or history of gender dysphoria, the VA said. Gender dysphoria is the medical term for individuals whose gender identity does not match their biological sex at birth.
Democratic lawmakers and advocates for transgender veterans immediately condemned the decision, along with the change Friday to VA policy that ensured health-care access for transgender veterans.
Rep. Mark Takano of California, the top Democrat on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, accused VA leaders of making transgender veterans a “pawn in [the] cruel political games” of President Donald Trump’s administration.
“The Veterans Health Administration should be focused on supporting and providing quality health care to all our veterans, not furthering Republicans’ obsessive attacks on the rights, dignity and existence of the transgender community,” Takano said.
The decisions “will force our community to defer or delay care and opt out of VA services altogether,” said Lindsay Church, executive director of Minority Veterans of America.
The VA did not provide numbers on how many veterans received medical treatment for gender dysphoria. But the agency said it will continue to provide transgender veterans access to other VA health care and benefits for which they qualify. The VA estimated about 9,000 transgender veterans are enrolled in VA health care, which serves more than 9 million veterans.
The VA’s end to medical treatment for gender dysphoria will make the health care system align with Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order that withdrew federal recognition for transgender people and directed the end to gender-affirming care, the VA said.
Titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” the order stated the sexes “are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.”
“I mean no disrespect to anyone, but VA should not be focused on helping veterans attempt to change their sex. The vast majority of veterans and Americans agree, and that is why this is the right decision,” Collins said when he announced the decision.
Any savings from ending the medical treatments will be redirected to help defray costs of care for veterans with catastrophic injuries that include amputations and paralysis, the VA said.
Though the VA has never offered sex-change surgeries, it also will end the practice of providing clinical letters of support for veterans seeking the operations with private doctors, the VA said.
“I applaud Secretary Collins’ decision today to refocus VA’s efforts away from cross-sex hormone therapy through VA health care and toward providing health care and services to our disabled and paralyzed veteran community,” said Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., the chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
Collins’ announcement Monday excludes veterans who already are receiving care for gender dysphoria at the VA or who receive the care from the military as part of their separation from service, the VA said.
The Defense Department in February ended funds for gender-affirming surgeries.
