It’s the Cost

Or so they say one of the reasons why they are kicking us out of the military. But according to some estimates the cost of healthcare for trans people in the military and in the VA is less than Trump golfing trips.

Cost of military transgender care in the spotlight
Market Place
By Megan Pauly
October 10, 2017

The cost of transgender health care is in the spotlight, both for veterans, and for active duty transgender troops.  The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced shortly after President Donald Trump was elected that it was going to drop plans to cover those surgeries in part because of cost. Then, President Trump directed the Department of Defense to stop providing transition-related care for active duty service members in part citing “tremendous medical costs.”

When it comes to medical costs for transgender individuals, “what the research shows clearly is that the financial waste would come from firing perfectly competent transgender troops and training their replacements,” said Aaron Belkin, executive director of the Palm Center, a group researching military and gender issues.

The Department of Defense estimated the cost of training new recruits runs about $75,000 per service member.

In contrast, Belkin said the annual average cost of ongoing transgender care for hormones and gender therapy runs less than $700 per service member.

To put the cost of our healthcare in perspective, PBS reports…

WASHINGTON — With President Donald Trump making his seventh presidential trip this weekend to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, government watchdogs and Democrats are once again seeing dollar signs: namely, $3 million.

That’s a widely used estimate of what each journey costs taxpayers. The figure comes from a government report on a trip President Barack Obama made to Palm Beach, Florida, but the report’s author tells The Associated Press that it’s a mistake to apply those findings to Trump’s travel.

And he has been playing golf just about every weekend, $3 million time fifty-two equals $156,000,000 a year, but he says that our healthcare cost too much.

The Market Place article goes on to say,

The future for transgender active duty service members also remains uncertain. Trump signed a memorandum directing the military to ban transgender recruits from serving in the military. Defense Secretary James Mattis has until February 2018 to decide if active duty transgender troops will be allowed to continue serving. Mattis has asked a panel of experts to review the issue.

Let’s face it, this is not about money, it is about bigotry. The Republican hatred of anything LGBT and their hate of anything connected with President Obama.