Secretary of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, David Shulkin, has pledged not to privatize the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). He understands, he says, that the VHA’s ability to provide care that, as studies document, is superior to those in the private sector is because veterans are treated in an integrated system that meets all their […]
Suzanne Gordon
Suzanne Gordon is a senior policy analyst at the Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute, as well as a journalist and co-editor of a Cornell University Press series on health care work and policy issues. Her latest book, co-authored with Steve Early and Jasper Craven, is Our Veterans: Winners, Losers, Friends, and Enemies on the New Terrain of Veterans Affairs (Duke University Press). She has won a Special Recognition Award from Disabled American Veterans for her writing on veterans’ health issues, much of which has appeared in The American Prospect. Her website is www.suzannegordon.com.
Posted inHealth and Social Policy
Congress Determined To Keep Private Sector In Vets’ Heath Care
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill mulling legislation to extend a program that lets veterans seek health care in the private sector have revived their longstanding complaints about long wait times for care at the Veterans Health Administration facilities. Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin and Dr. Baligh Yehia, the agency’s assistant under secretary, appeared before the House […]
Posted inHealth and Social Policy
VA Whistleblowers Beware: Tweeting Under Trump is No Two-Way Street`
A GOP bid to muzzle federal workers at the Veterans Health Administration will directly harm patients.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Hiring Freeze Spares Some at VA, But Shortages Still Loom
The Veterans Health Administration faces a staffing crisis, despite exemptions to President Trump’s recent federal hiring freeze.
Posted inHealth and Social Policy
For Once, Trump Makes the Right Cabinet Pick
Trump’s pick to head the VA is actually someone who is both qualified and committed to the department’s mission.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
VHA Support for Nurse Practitioners Draws Fire from Medical Leaders
The Veterans Health Administration has weighed in on a controversy that has embroiled medicine and nursing for the last 50 years: whether advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) can operate without direct physician supervision. On December 14, the VHA amended its medical regulations to “permit full practice authority” to many of the system’s nurse practitioners, a […]
Posted inAmerica and the World
Fact-Checking Fact-Checkers on Privatizing Vets’ Health Care
In the debate over the future of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), no concept has attracted more controversy than “privatization.” Since wholesale privatization of the VHA is deeply unpopular among veterans and their advocacy organizations, groups like the Koch brothers-funded Concerned Veterans for America (CVA) argue that they do not support “privatization” of the VHA. […]
Posted inAmerica and the World
Will Trump Deliver for Veterans?
On the campaign trail, President-elect Donald Trump repeated one key promise: to “Make America Great Again” by increasing the country’s military might and supporting its 24 million military veterans. After all, he promised to raise money for veterans and said he donated a million dollars out of his own pocket to veterans’ charities. But Trump […]
Posted inAmerica and the World
Hill Hearing Spells Bad News for Veterans
Not a single veterans service organization was asked to speak last week at the House Veterans Affairs Committee’s hearing on the final recommendations of the VA Commission on Care, though such groups represent millions of former military personnel. Also noticeably absent from the witness list was Vietnam veteran Michael Blecker, executive director of the San […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Studies Show Veterans Health Care Improving
When the House Veterans Affairs Committee holds a hearing on September 7 to assess the future of the Veterans Health Administration, federal lawmakers would do well to consider recent reports that challenge the continual drumbeat of negative and often unfair coverage and congressional criticism of the VHA. One report, from the RAND Corporation, said that […]