Tag: United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs

The Story: Senator Jon Tester (D-MONT), the top Democrat on the Veterans' Affairs Committee in the US Senate, took a lead role in the events...

The firing of Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin may seem like just another in the recent spate of executive-branch departures. But for his efforts to reform a vast bureaucracy and to better serve America's 20 million veterans, Shulkin will be sorely missed. What's clear is that many of those efforts have been sensible and courageous. The next VA leader -- Rear Admiral Ronny Jackson, the White House physician, has been tabbed -- should push ahead on the same track. Shulkin supported a plan approved by Congress to privatize VA services, but was wary of moving too abruptly or drastically. So the department focused on cities where VA hospitals are overcrowded and in rural areas where they are hard to reach. And he proceeded carefully with the effort to shift care for homeless veterans -- some 40,000 people -- to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which may be better suited to the task. The VA still needs to do a better job of vetting veterans who apply for care and disability payments. This responsibility now falls to Jackson. To contact the senior editor responsible for Bloomberg View’s editorials: David Shipley at davidshipley@bloomberg.net .

President Donald Trump is firing Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin and replacing him with the White House doctor Ronny Jackson. (March 28) AP With 9 million veterans receiving healthcare from the Veterans Health Administration, and 1,200 hospitals and clinic providing those services, it is not surprising that so much media attention has been given to the quality if care provided. Unfortunately, I have seen very few favorable stories and a substantial amount of criticism — and certainly a mountain of evidence of questionable performance. On Wednesday, President Trump fired David Shulkin as secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs and replaced him with Dr. Ronny Jackson, Trump's personal physician. Perhaps it is time for veterans who have been using the VA health care system to speak up about our experiences. I have been using the VA health care system for more than 30 years. If there seems to be a problem or serious concern, I have the option of using the VA specialist or seeking help outside the system. Recently, through the new low-vision clinic, I have been provided several innovative tools that have been extremely helpful to help these aging eyes. Over the past several decades, I have found the VA psychologists to be very helpful in my efforts to age gracefully. I hope we can improve the VA health care system without more political involvement, and without privatizing the system.