The military spends $42 million a year on Viagra — five times the amount it would spend on transgender surgeries

On Wednesday morning, President Trump announced via Twitter that transgender individuals are now banned from serving in the U.S. Military.

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One of Trump’s arguments for the ban is the cost of gender reassignment surgery. But as I pointed out in an earlier post, some of the loudest voices supporting the transgender ban under the guise of fiscal prudence also support the funding of the F-35 jet. The F-35 is considered by many on both the left and the right to be one of the most colossal wastes of money in U.S. military budget history to the tune of 1.4 trillion dollars.

The cost of possible transgender surgeries was estimated to be between $2.4 million and $8 million annually by the RAND Corp last year.

Many members of Congress don’t believe taxpayer dollars should go to transgender surgeries because it is not essential health care.

But, arguably, neither is Viagra.

https://twitter.com/colincampbell/status/890268611532783616

RELATED: Here’s the real reason why President Trump’s transgender military ban is stupid and pointless

The Washington Post reported Wednesday, “Total military spending on erectile dysfunction medicines amounts to $84 million annually, according to an analysis by the Military Times — 10 times the cost of annual transition-related medical care for active duty transgender service members.”

That’s just the cost of erectile dysfunction medicine for military members in total. But on Viagra specifically, the Post continues, “The military spends $41.6 million annually on Viagra alone, according to the Military Times analysis — roughly five times the estimated spending on transition-related medical care for transgender troops.”

Those who don’t understand transgender people will likely continue to balk at the idea that the hormone treatments and the surgeries some transgender soldiers seek are essential to their health. But would they feel the same about taking away male soldiers’ Viagra?

What do you think?

A HuffPost contributor wrote that John McCain would die with “dishonor” for his health care vote

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