translated from Spanish: U.S. to Pay Veterans for Sex Change Surgery for the First Time

The announcement of the new inclusive policy was made by The Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Denis McDonough, this Saturday during an event at a veterans center in Orlando (Florida) to celebrate LGBTQ+ pride month. The policy change could benefit 134,000 veterans, the number of trans people who were identified by the National Center for Transgender Equality.In the United States there is no public health system, so the Department of Veterans Affairs is responsible for providing a health care package to former members of the Armed Forces.
Until now, that package included hormone therapy and mental health services for transgender people, but excluded sex resuscitation surgery to get the physical appearance of the opposite sex. This full coverage measure represents a huge advance for equality within the U.S. Armed Forces.” There are several steps to take, which will take time, but we are moving forward, methodically, because we want this important policy change to be implemented in a way that ensures that the services made available to Veterans meet our rigorous standards for quality health care,” mcDonough said.Currently, about 15,000 active U.S. service members are transgender people. , according to the National Center for Equality Transgénero.La move follows a direction from Joe Biden’s administration for deepening policies in the direction of increasing diversity and inclusion. In July 2017, via Twitter Donald Trump had announced that after consulting with his generals and military experts, the U.S. Government would not accept or allow transgender individuals in the Army. “Our military must be focused on victory and cannot bear the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgenders will entail in the Army,” Trump said then.

Original source in Spanish