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That’s 100 times more expensive than leaving trans soldiers in service.

When President Trump took to Twitter to announce his controversial ban on transgender people serving in the US military, he gave the reasons of “tremendous medical costs” and “disruption”.

But a new report from Palm Centre indicates that implementing his ban would actually be very expensive, costing an estimated $960 million in total to discharge and replace all trans soldiers.

There are currently around 12,800 trans service members and the cost of recruiting a replacement for each discharged soldier would be $75,000. By contrast, the average annual cost of transition-related healthcare is around $656 per person. This figure takes into account the fact that most trans soldiers do not need transition-related care during their time in service.

According to Palm Centre’s findings, Trump’s military ban will cost $960 million to save only $8.4 million per year.

The report states:

“If decisions concerning whether to allow transgender personnel to serve are based on financial considerations, then policymakers should take into account the costs of discharging the service members, not just the costs of retaining them under a policy of equal treatment.”

You can find out more about the report here.

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