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Citing Trump order on ‘biological truth,’ VA makes it harder for male veterans with breast cancer to get coverage
NO. 248
VOL. 11,
Coachella mayor charged with conflict of interest, perjury By Joe Taglieri joet@beaconmedianews.com
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
Coachella Mayor Steven Hernandez. | Photo courtesy of Steven Hernandez/Facebook
| 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
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oachella Mayor Steven Hernandez pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of perjury and alleged conflict of interest relating to government contracts and decision-making, Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin announced. A county grand jury returned a nine-count indictment against Hernandez, who also is chief of staff for District 4 county Supervisor V. Manuel Perez. Hernandez was placed on indefinite leave from his county position, Perez said. The conflict-of-interest charges stem from his vote to approve a contract between the city and the Coachella Valley Association of Governments’ Housing First Program and his votes and advocacy related to development projects in downtown Coachella. The perjury charges
See Coachella Mayor Page 28
relate to claims Hernandez made on financial disclosure documents known as Form 700. According to the indictment, the mayor’s allegedly corrupt City Council votes on projects in which he had a financial interest involved using federal American Rescue Plan funds to refurbish the fire station in downtown Coachella, to OK the Fountainhead Plaza project, the Tripoli mixed-use project and Sunline Transit Line funding. The perjury allegations stemmed from income Hernandez received from 52280 Calle Camacho, a single-story house in which he was apparently invested, according to court documents. If convicted as currently charged, Hernandez, 42, would be barred for life from