Copyright ProPublica
What Happened: More than two dozen Democrats in the House are pressing the Trump administration to reverse a new policy at the Department of Veterans Affairs that makes it harder for male veterans with breast cancer to get health coverage. The demand, issued in a letter to VA Secretary Doug Collins, follows a ProPublica story last week that revealed the change. Previously, breast cancer among men was on a list of conditions that the VA presumed were connected to a veteran’s military service. As we reported, the department removed the disease from that list in a memo signed by Collins in September. The directive cited an order that President Donald Trump issued on his first day in office titled: “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” As a result, in order to get coverage through the VA, the roughly 100 male veterans who are diagnosed with breast cancer each year must now prove their disease was connected to their military service, a burden that has often been hard to meet. Separately, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut and the ranking member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, introduced a bill on Tuesday that would require the government to disclose when it is changing benefits for veterans exposed to toxins. What They Said: Democrats, led by Rep. Mark Takano, the ranking member of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, blasted the VA for the change. “It is clear with this decision that VA has callously put political calculations and adherence to unscientific executive orders above its obligations to provide care to veterans,” the representatives wrote in the letter. Meanwhile, Blumenthal said in a statement that transparency in the process is overdue — something his legislation would provide. “This measure guarantees essential information to veterans,” said the senator, whose announcement cited ProPublica’s story. “This is especially critical as the VA is reportedly rolling back coverage of conditions without scientific evidence.” The VA defended its new policy. “Male breast cancer is a serious condition, and VA will continue to provide care and benefits to any Veteran who can show a service connection for it,” said VA press secretary Pete Kasperowicz. “We also encourage any male Veterans with breast cancer who feel their health may have been impacted by their military service to submit a disability compensation claim.” Background: That process, however, can be onerous — a fact that drove Congress and the Biden administration to pass the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics, or PACT, Act, which streamlined the path to coverage for veterans exposed to toxic substances such as Agent Orange. Last year, the VA added breast cancer among men to the list of covered diseases. The law directs that “reproductive cancer of any type” be covered. Officials added breast cancer for men under that category after a working group of experts reviewed the science. It’s that decision that prompted the Trump administration to object as part of its effort to root out “gender ideology” in government. “The Biden Administration falsely classified male breasts as reproductive organs,” Kasperowicz said in a prior statement to ProPublica. On Wednesday, he reiterated the point: Democrats “may wish to ignore the details of the PACT Act as it’s written, but the law simply states that VA must presume service connection for ‘reproductive cancer,’ and male breast cancer is not a reproductive cancer.” Why It Matters: Collins has long insisted that the administration’s changes at the VA will not affect care. “Veterans benefits aren’t getting cut,” he said in February. “In fact, we are actually giving and improving services.” But experts say the new policy on breast cancer in men could result in delayed or even missed care for veterans — even as research has shown the disease is particularly deadly for men and that its prevalence among them has been increasing. In addition to insisting that the VA reverse its decision, House members in their letter demanded to know what, if any, evidence the agency relied on. “The PACT Act is the law — not a suggestion,” the letter states. “And it requires VA to follow the evidence, not executive orders that distort science for politics.” Meanwhile, Blumenthal’s bill — the Presumptive Clear Legal Assessment and Review of Illnesses from Toxic Exposure Yields (CLARITY) Act — would require the VA to create a website detailing its decisions about covering illnesses related to exposure to toxic substances.
