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Citing Trump order on ‘biological truth,’ VA makes it harder for male veterans with breast cancer to get coverage
VOL. 14,
NO. 248
12 charged with impeding ICE Operations in LA; judge rules Essayli’s ‘acting US attorney’ title illegal By City News Service
By Eric Umansky, ProPublica This story was originally published by ProPublica. ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.
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he Trump administration is making it more difficult for veterans with a rare but deadly cancer to get their health care needs covered by the government. The new policy, involving breast cancer in men, is laid out in a Department of Veterans Affairs memo obtained by ProPublica. The previously undisclosed document does not cite any evolving science. Rather, it relies on 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.” An agency spokesperson confirmed the change. “As of Sept. 30, the department no longer presumes service connection for male breast cancer,” press secretary Pete Kasperowicz wrote in a statement to ProPublica. He noted that veterans who’ve previously qualified for coverage can keep it. But for the roughly 100 male veterans who are newly diagnosed each year, the path will now be significantly harder. They will have to show their cancer was connected to their military service, a burden that has often been hard to meet. Without VA coverage, experts say, veterans’ care could be delayed or even missed altogether — even as research has shown the rate of breast cancer among men has been increasing and the disease is deadlier than for women. One study also found that breast cancer for men is “notably higher among
| Graphic courtesy of CDC
veterans.” “Cancer in male veterans should be covered,” said Dr. Anita Aggarwal, a VA oncologist who researched and treated breast cancer for years before retiring recently. “These people have put their lives at risk for us.” As Aggarwal noted, breast tissue in men and women are similar. “Male breasts don’t produce milk,” Aggarwal said. “But the treatment is the same.” She added that research has linked breast cancer to toxic exposure. The administration’s new policy rolls back benefits that were created under the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics, or PACT, Act, a Biden-era law that ushered in one of the largest expansions of health care and benefits in VA history. After a long fight by advocates, congressional Democrats and Republicans passed the measure three years ago,
making it easier for veterans poisoned by Agent Orange and other toxic substances to get benefits. Before the law, the VA had frequently been denying the claims. Now, the government would presume many ailments were connected to veterans’ military service, so long as they served in particular areas and had any number of diseases on a VA list. As a result, more than 200,000 veterans likely exposed to toxic substances during their service have qualified to have their care covered. The Trump administration’s change means that male veterans who get breast cancer will no longer be able to benefit from that easier path for coverage. Veterans who have breast See Breast cancer Page 04
cancer said the move left them aghast and puzzled. Jack Gelman, a 80-yearold former Navy fighter pilot who served in Vietnam, is already facing the fact that his long-dormant breast cancer came back last year. Now he has to grapple with the fact that the government has just made it harder to get his care covered. “I’m astonished,” Gelman said repeatedly when ProPublica told him about the change. “This is really nickel and diming a very small group of people who should be taken care of.” Other veterans echoed that. “I don’t care if it’s toenail cancer,” said Kirby Lewis, who was diagnosed with breast cancer about a dozen years ago and is now Stage 4. “If exposure occurs, they should take care of those
Bill Essayli, first assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles. | Photo courtesy of the California State Assembly/Wikimedia Commons (CC0)
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ederal charges have been filed against a dozen defendants who allegedly engaged in violence and civil disorder during immigration enforcement actions in Southern California earlier this year, officials announced Wednesday. Ten defendants were arrested Wednesday, including Isai Carrillo, who prosecutors say is an anti-ICE activist who threw rocks at government vehicles during the Glass House marijuana farm raid in July in which a federal contract employee was injured. An 11th defendant is in state custody and will be turned over to federal authorities, while Virginia Reyes — who allegedly used her vehicle See Essayli Page 28
to impede federal officers at the Camarillo pot farm — is considered a fugitive, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. “Promises made, promises kept,” acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli posted on X. “The President and (U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi) made clear that we will find, arrest, and charge anyone who attacks our federal agents. This morning we arrested 10 defendants for engaging in violence against officers and property earlier this year in connection with anti-immigration enforcement protests. They are now in federal custody. ... Peaceful protest is protected. Violence is not. Agitators who harm our officers,