Transitioning Transgender Soldiers' Medical Expenses 14 Times Higher than Average
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/07/26/transitioning-transgender-soldiers-medical-expenses-14-times-higher-average/
Critics of President Donald Trump's decision to bar transgender Americans from serving in the U.S. armed forces are citing a 2016 RAND Corporation study that, they claim, refutes "the idea that transgender soldiers are somehow expensive, or that they undermine the morale and cohesion of the military over all," as the New Yorker put it.
The question of cost relates to gender transition treatment, which some transgenders want the military to provide for them.
The RAND study says that the cost of gender transition treatment for transgender service members would be "relatively low" - that is, relative to total military expenditure on health care. But a closer look at the numbers in the study reveals that the health care costs of transgenders who choose to undergo gender transition treatment in the military would be some 14 times higher than the average health care costs of service members in general.
The study estimates that between 29 and 129 transgender service members in the active component of the military would choose to utilize "transition-related health care" annually. The mid-range estimate is 79 individuals per year. Given that the total active component population of the military in 2014 was 1,326,273, that means about 0.006% of service members could use gender transition-related health services. The RAND study estimates that the annual cost of such services would be as low as $2.4 million and as high as $8.4 million, based on different assumptions about the relative prevalence of transgenderism within the military and between men and women. That represents "a 0.04- to 0.13-percent increase in active-component health care expenditures," RAND concludes. The mid-range estimate for that increase would be 0.085 percent. Therefore 0.006% of service members would be responsible for a 0.085% increase in costs - i.e. a transitioning service member's medical bills would be 14 times the average.
There are large categories of people who are excluded from military service because of medical conditions - e.g. asthma - that are cheaper and easier to treat than transgender-related health issues (both physical and mental). ...
So, let's be honest ... changing oneself from a man to a "woman" ... or from a woman to a "man" ... is expensive. What's a freak to do, eh? Ah ha - join the military and let the U.S. taxpayers pay for the treatment! Nope. You wanna drastically change your outward appearance? Fine. Do it on your own time and on your own nickel.
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