Veterans groups rip Trump for trying to kill their health care

The Trump administration is working on a plan that would seriously erode the quality and availability of health care for military veterans. Veterans groups are in revolt over the move.

The plan by VA Secretary David Shulkin — concocted without congressional input — is to merge the Department of Veterans Affairs’ VA Choice health system with private elements of the military’s TRICARE system.

Because TRICARE uses private doctors and hospitals, many veterans who currently are helped by federally owned VA clinics and medical centers would be shuttled into the private system, which is designed to cover troops and military families, not veterans.

Veterans groups are blasting the plan.

Iraq War veteran Will Fischer of VoteVets said in a statement that the plan is “insane,” adding, “To mash-up their care, just so you can further privatize it, hurts our veterans and our troops.”

The privatization of veterans’ care is something that billionaire conservative financiers Charles and David Koch have pushed for years.

https://shareblue.com/veterans-groups-rip-trump-for-trying-to-kill-their-health-care/