Claim: U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren said or argued to the effect that "taxpayers must fund sex reassignment surgery.
Verdict: SUPPORTS

Retrieved passages:
title: Michelle Kosilek
text: to the use of "taxpayer dollars" for Kosilek's surgery. Relatives of Cheryl McCaul objected to the court-ordered surgery and one cousin suggested it would lead someone unable to afford such surgery to commit murder in order to receive it at government expense. In 2006, the editors of the "Boston Globe" had opposed Kosilek's surgery because "[p]rivate insurers rarely pay for sex-change operations" and "hormone treatment and expert therapy" are "sufficient". In 2012, the "Globe" said that Wolf's decision made a persuasive case that the surgery was "medically necessary, not an elective procedure", however "distasteful". The paper had also stopped referring

title: O'Donnabhain v. Commissioner
text: O'Donnabhain v. Commissioner O'Donnabhain v. Commissioner 134 T.C. 34 (2010) is a case decided by the United States Tax Court. The issue for the court was whether a taxpayer who has been diagnosed with gender identity disorder can deduct sex reassignment surgery costs as necessary medical expenses under . The IRS argued that such surgery is cosmetic and not medically necessary. On Feb 2, 2010 the court ruled that O'Donnabhain should be allowed to deduct the costs of her treatment for gender-identity disorder, including sex-reassignment surgery and hormone treatments. In its decision, the court found the IRS position was "at

title: Transgender legal history in the United States
text: whether a taxpayer who has been diagnosed with gender identity disorder can deduct sex reassignment surgery costs as necessary medical expenses under . The IRS argued that such surgery is cosmetic and not medically necessary. On Feb 2, 2010 the court ruled that O'Donnabhain should be allowed to deduct the costs of her treatment for gender-identity disorder, including sex-reassignment surgery and hormone treatments. In its decision, the court found the IRS position was "at best a superficial characterization of the circumstances" that is "thoroughly rebutted by the medical evidence". In 2011 Vandy Beth Glenn, a transgender woman, won a lawsuit

title: Michelle Kosilek
text: the case, estimated at more than $700,000. Kosilek's attorneys offered to forgo that payment if the state would cover the cost of Kosilek's surgery and forgo its appeal. Representative Barney Frank supported the decision of Governor Deval Patrick to appeal Wolf's decision. He said "I think it should be clear she has a right to present herself as a woman, and that should be honored by the prison system" but he thought that Kosilek's advocates were wrong to describe her case "as a general trans[gender rights] issue". U.S. Senator Scott Brown and his 2012 election opponent Elizabeth Warren both objected

title: Political positions of Elizabeth Warren
text: a piece of legislation to address perceived conflicts of interest held by president-elect Donald Trump. Warren supports abortion rights and opposes any Supreme Court nominees who "oppose legal abortion". Warren supports same-sex marriage and passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). In July 2015, Warren and fellow senator Tammy Baldwin joined eight-one congressional colleagues in signing a letter to the Food and Drug Administration requesting it lift a ban on gay and bisexual males donating blood and implement a one-year deferral on the grounds that the ban served "to perpetuate the stereotype that all men who have sex with men pose

title: O'Donnabhain v. Commissioner
text: diagnosed gender identity disorder." The IRS issued a memorandum stating that: Whether gender reassignment surgery is a treatment for an illness or disease is controversial. For instance, Johns Hopkins Hospital has closed its gender reassignment clinic and ceased performing these operations. ... In light of the Congressional emphasis on denying a deduction for procedures relating to appearance in all but a few circumstances and the controversy surrounding whether GRS is a treatment for an illness or disease, the materials submitted do not support a deduction. In the clearest possible statement the US Tax Court declared "In its decision yesterday, the

title: Mark L. Wolf
text: stop to Beacon Hill’s “culture of arrogance.” (Boston Globe, Sept. 10, 2011). 2012: Wolf ordered that the Massachusetts Department of Corrections must provide Michelle Kosilek (a pre-operative transsexual who is imprisoned for the murder of Kosilek's wife) with sex reassignment surgery, which the DOC's medical personnel have determined is medically necessary, as a treatment for Kosilek's gender dysphoria. In his ruling, Wolf wrote, "[The] fact that sex reassignment surgery is for some people medically necessary has recently become more widely recognized." This case was reversed. 2018: Five undocumented immigrants and their spouses filed a lawsuit against the US government alleging

title: Andrew Hastie (politician)
text: Intelligence and Security, he was then invited to chair the committee in 2017. Hastie is a public opponent of same sex marriage. Hastie has been critical of the ADF for spending more than $1 million on sex reassignment surgery for staff experiencing gender dysphoria stating that “I do not see how these surgeries enhance our war-fighting capability as a nation." On 27 April 2018, Prime Minister Hon Malcolm Turnbull met with Hastie in Lakelands to announce $824 million of federal funding to build three major infrastructure projects in the Division of Canning. This commitment represents one quarter of all federal

title: Wesley Warren Jr.
text: Medicaid, which would involve cutting away the swollen tissue and performing reconstructive surgery, including skin grafts to restore his penis and testicles. However, Warren was advised that they might have to be removed along with the tissue. This was not welcome news: "Basically, he was telling me there was a good chance that I would be castrated and have to go to the bathroom through a tube for the rest of my life. I really would like to have a relationship with a woman. I should be in the prime of my life right now." At a further evaluation at

title: O'Donnabhain v. Commissioner
text: chosen entirely for looks. Many questions remain about the religious bias of the IRS, as the results of the follow-up study were published in a Catholic journal the IRS would later use to close out deductions for surgery. The IRS's decision to classify O'Donnabhain's sex reassignment surgery as cosmetic "sparked outrage" from experts who specialize in gender identity disorder. According to Marshall Forstein, associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, "it's absolutely clear that transgender identity is a condition discussed in diagnostic manuals. It seems the IRS is now in the business of practicing medicine without a license." O'Donnabhain

title: Kavanagh v. Canada (Attorney General)
text: attempted to harm herself several times in prison once confronted with the fact that she would be unable to seek either state-sponsored or privately paid for sex reassignment surgery. Watson concluded her assessment of Kavanagh by noting "that denial of sex reassignment surgery will seriously impair Ms. Kavanagh’s ability to be stable, productive and adapt to life in or outside of prison." Ultimately, the Canadian Human Rights Commission found liability on the part of Correctional Services Canada. Where placement was concerned, it was found that although Correctional Services Canada was "justified in not placing pre-operative transsexuals in target gender facilities…"

title: Michelle Kosilek
text: had engaged in "pretense, pretext, and prevarication" to deny the treatment. He wrote that Dennehy had "testified untruthfully on many matters" while supporting legislation to prevent her from providing sex reassignment surgery to inmates. Wolf ordered the DOC to provide Kosilek with the surgery. In October 2012, Judge Wolf ordered the DOC to hire an independent expert to determine whether electrolysis was a necessary part of Kosilek's treatment for gender dysphoria. Judge Wolf announced in December that, pending the outcome of the case on appeal, he was prepared to require the state to reimburse Koselek's attorneys for their work on

title: Michelle Kosilek
text: to Kosilek as "Robert" and adopted feminine pronouns. An editorial in the "Los Angeles Times" noted that cost was not the issue, since the cost of the surgery would be offset by the lesser expense of housing Kosilek in a women's prison and avoid the costs associated with Kosilek's attacks on her own body. It nevertheless thought that sex reassignment surgery was "medical attention that is above and beyond the community standard of care", noting that private insurance companies and Medicare do not cover it. It offered the "generally recognized standard of insurance coverage" as the standard to be used

title: Michelle Kosilek
text: in providing medical services to the incarcerated. The DOC appealed Wolf's decision about sex reassignment surgery, "Kosilek v. Spencer", to the First Circuit Court of Appeals, which heard arguments on April 2, 2013. On January 17, 2014, a three-judge panel of that Court ruled 2–1 for Kosilek. The majority, Judges O. Rogeriee Thompson and William J. Kayatta, Jr., said that Kosilek's Eighth Amendment rights included "receiving medically necessary treatment ... even if that treatment strikes some as odd or unorthodox". In dissent Judge Juan R. Torruella said that denying the medical care in question did not violate Kosilek's Eighth Amendment

title: Transgender rights in the United States
text: panel of the First Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the Massachusetts Department of Corrections to provide Michelle Kosilek, a Massachusetts inmate, with sex reassignment surgery. It said denying the surgery violated Kosilek's Eighth Amendment rights, which included "receiving medically necessary treatment ... even if that treatment strikes some as odd or unorthodox". On April 3, 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice intervened in a federal lawsuit filed in Georgia to argue that denying hormone treatment for transgender inmates violates their rights. It contended that the state's policy that only allows for continuing treatments begun before incarceration was insufficient and that

title: Sex reassignment therapy
text: sex reassignment surgery there. McHugh succeeded in ending it at the university during his time. However, a new gender clinic at Johns Hopkins has been opened in 2017. Opposition was also expressed by several writers identifying as feminist, most famously Janice Raymond. Her paper was allegedly instrumental in removing Medicaid and Medicare support for sex reassignment therapy in the US. Sex reassignment therapy, especially surgery, tends to be expensive and is not always covered by public or private health insurance. In many areas with comprehensive nationalized health care, such as some Canadian provinces and most European countries, SRT is covered

title: Doe v. Trump (2017)
text: to society" and that President Trump's ban was "apparently announced without any consultation with top military leaders". Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly granted the plaintiffs' preliminary injunction on October 30, 2017. In the ruling, Judge Kollar-Kotelly noted the defendants' motion to dismiss the case was "perhaps compelling in the abstract, [but] wither away under scrutiny." The ruling effectively reinstated the policies established prior to President Trump's tweets announcing the ban, namely the retention and accession policies for transgender personnel that were effective on June 30, 2017. However, the court denied a preliminary injunction against the ban on government-funded sex reassignment surgery for

title: You didn't build that
text: video. In the video, Warren aggressively rebuts the argument that asking the rich to pay more taxes is "class warfare", by making the claim that no one grew rich in America without depending on government services paid for by the rest of society. Warren said: Obama later echoed Warren's thoughts when he spoke in Roanoke, Virginia about how private businesses rely on government investments in infrastructure. In her victory speech on November 6, 2012, Elizabeth Warren made a callback, stating it had been "an amazing campaign, and let me be clear, I didn't build that, you built that." On July

title: Transgender people and military service
text: a presidential memorandum, dated 25 August 2017, directing the Secretary of Defense and Secretary of Homeland Security to submit an implementation plan by 21 February 2018, to reinstate the ban and halt the use of military funds for "sex reassignment surgical procedures for military personnel". On 30 October 2017, US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly barred the administration from excluding transgender people from military service in "Jane Doe v. Trump", but did not address whether federal funds should be used to pay for sex reassignment surgery for service members. The ruling also stated that that as far as could be seen,

title: Sex reassignment surgery
text: now contain defined benefits covering sex reassignment-related procedures, usually including genital reconstruction surgery (MTF and FTM), chest reconstruction (FTM), breast augmentation (MTF), and hysterectomy (FTM). In June 2008, the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates stated that the denial to patients with gender dysphoria or otherwise covered benefits represents discrimination, and that the AMA supports "public and private health insurance coverage for treatment for gender dysphoria as recommended by the patient's physician." Other organizations have issued similar statements, including WPATH, the American Psychological Association, and the National Association of Social Workers. In 2017, the United States Defense Health Agency