Addressing claims that VA hospital rules allow discrimination against Dems and unmarried veterans

As veterans navigate changes to the Department of Veterans Affairs under the Trump administration, a June 16 story from British newspaper The Guardian raised alarms.

The story said the Department of Veterans Affairs had adopted changes that could allow  hospitals to refuse treatment to some veterans. 

"‘Extremely disturbing and unethical’: New rules allow VA doctors to refuse to treat Democrats, unmarried veterans," the story’s original headline read.  

The VA had changed its bylaws, the article said, and eliminated previous discrimination protections for patients and employees based on marital status and political affiliation.

The story spread rapidly on social media and prompted condemnation from Democratic elected officials.

Members of the Trump administration called the story "false" and "ridiculous." 

"This story is disinformation," the VA posted June 16 on its X account. "All eligible Veterans will always be welcome at VA and will always receive the benefits and services they’ve earned under the law."

During a June 24 Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins said the story was clickbait: "It’s scaring veterans."

The Guardian has since updated its story to include comments from the VA and rewrote the headline to read, "VA hospitals remove politics and marital status from guidelines protecting patients from discrimination." The story also notes the VA’s statements that federal law and a 2013 policy directive "will continue to protect patients from discrimination despite the redactions in its bylaws." A note at the story’s end described The Guardian’s updates.

But the episode left people confused about what happened and what it could mean for veterans and VA employees.

On June 18, a veterans advocacy group, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, released a statement demanding clarity about the change: "The lack of transparency or clear communication about why the changes were made has created significant distress among the veteran community and members of the VA workforce."

The Guardian update follows Trump admin feedback about existing law

PolitiFact was unable to independently verify VA bylaw changes. The Guardian’s initial reporting relied on unnamed sources, and the newspaper did not respond to PolitiFact’s requests for comment. The story said it relied on "new rules, obtained by The Guardian." The VA declined to share a copy of the updated bylaws with PolitiFact. 

But The Guardian reported that at least two sections of VA hospital bylaws — one about medical staff’s treatment of patients and the other about the VA’s hiring and employment practices — were changed to comply with President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order targeting transgender rights. 

According to The Guardian’s initial report, previous VA bylaws protected against discrimination based on race, age, color, sex, religion, national origin, politics, marital status or disability. The Guardian reported that the agency removed national origin, politics and marital status from that list.

At least one VA healthcare system had already implemented such changes.

The Palo Alto, California, VA Health Care System approved updated bylaws April 2. A previous version of its bylaws dated March 2023 included marital status and political affiliation discrimination protections for employees and patients. The updated version does not include these categories and instead prohibits discrimination "on the basis of any legally protected status, including legally protected status such as race, color, religion, sex, or prior protected activity."

The original Guardian article said the VA’s recent changes meant that "hospitals nationwide could refuse to treat unmarried veterans and Democrats" and "doctors and other medical staff can also be barred from working at VA hospitals based on their marital status, political party affiliation or union activity, documents reviewed by the Guardian show."  

But the VA disputed that, saying despite the change, other federal laws and policy still prohibit those forms of discrimination. 

VA spokesperson Macaulay Porter confirmed that the agency’s medical center bylaws had recently been updated to ensure compliance with White House executive orders, but said, "These updates will have no impact whatsoever on who VA treats or employs." She described the Guardian story as "false."

Porter cited two federal laws protecting employees from discrimination: 5 U.S. Code sec. 2302, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of marital status or political affiliation in the treatment of federal employees, and 5 U.S. Code. sec. 7102, which protects workers rights to participate in a union.

For patient protections, Porter said veterans’ health care eligibility is in statutes and "not on categories such as political affiliation or marital status." 

She also pointed to 2013 directive, No. 1019, from the Veterans Health Administration that prohibits discrimination "in any and all VHA programs" based on "race, color, religion, national origin, sex (includes gender identity, transgender status), sexual orientation, pregnancy, marital and parental status, political affiliation, age, disability, genetic information, and (limited english proficiency)."

Porter confirmed the policy is still in effect despite it being due for recertification in 2018. "VA policies stay in effect until they are rescinded," Porter said. 

Directive 1019’s protections for gender identity and transgender status contradict other Trump administration policies, including the executive order cited as the reason for the change to VA bylaws. 

The VA did not respond to PolitiFact’s questions regarding this discrepancy or whether the directive would be updated. 

The Guardian’s updated story included a focus on the bylaws’ textual changes, and eliminated direct allegations that the change would allow veterans to be refused treatment. It now says the changes are "raising questions about whether individual workers could now be free to decline to care for patients based on personal characteristics not expressly protected by federal law."