Things That Cost More Than Transgender Care

President Donald Trump on Wednesday cited “tremendous medical costs” as one of the reasons he will no longer allow transgender people to serve in the U.S. military.

Since the 2016 Pentagon decision that allowed trans people to openly serve in the military, health care costs have risen by between $2.4 million and $8.4 million a year, according to one estimate. A separate study from 2015 predicted that additional health care costs for trans soldiers would come to just $5.6 million a year ― “little more than a rounding error” in the context of the military’s nearly $50 billion health care budget.