Veterans Care Suffering Under Trump Regime

 

We suppose it's to be expected that the draft-dodging, veteran-insulting ("suckers" and "losers") Malignant Fascist would cut staffing at the Department of Veterans Affairs, but this under-reported story exemplifies his low opinion of those who have sacrificed for their country.  From Government Executive:

"This was not normal. But nothing had been normal at East Orange since President Donald Trump returned to office last year and set his sights on the VA. 

The behemoth agency, which traces its roots to the Civil War, is both the country’s largest healthcare system and one of its most effective. It provides 9 million veterans what is essentially socialized medicine, often for free, under the cover of the American flag. The doctors, nurses and other staff are employed by the government. 

Despite the occasional scandal and persistent short-staffing, studies have shown that the VA — where the doctors coordinate with one another and have deep expertise on veterans’ needs — has better outcomes than private care.

But in his second term, Trump has moved aggressively to upend this system, embracing a decades-long conservative campaign to effectively kneecap the VA’s government-run healthcare and shift veterans toward private doctors and hospitals. 

Under Trump, the VA has increasingly acted like an insurer, paying doctors in the community for vets’ care. This, the reasoning went, would allow the government to cut thousands of needless bureaucrats while giving veterans more choices if the VA can’t provide the care." (our emphasis)

Veterans hospitals and the doctors that serve them fell victim to the regime's privatization of care, which replicates itself throughout Government as services are bought from the private sector, often at much higher costs and with national security risks (see Starlink/SpaceX).  Meanwhile, the contemptuous regime, and the evil Elon Musk, have come up with a devious way to cut the VA: 

"After pushback from vets groups and others, the administration retreated from its threat of mass layoffs. But it found another, less attention-getting way to shrink the VA. 

If Trump’s appointees couldn’t lay off employees, they would make work conditions so untenable that staffers would leave on their own.

The administration canceled the contracts of the agency’s unions — citing national security concerns. They ordered remote staffers back to the office. Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency demanded employees report what they had accomplished each week. And the administration offered staffers early retirement packages and other incentives to quit.

Throughout it all, the VA’s leadership said front-line medical workers would be immune from any cuts. But amid the upheaval, many left anyway." (our emphasis)

The irony is that the MF is engaged in a war of choice, that will generate more casualties while undercutting the VA's ability to treat them in a timely and professional way.  This is the legacy he's creating as our veterans suffer needlessly.  Fixing this has to be a top priority of the incoming Dem Congress. 

(photo:  Leigh Vogel / Getty Images for  About Face: Veterans Against the War)