In the up-is-down world the neo-cons live in, the perfect time to gut the Veterans Administration is when you are manufacturing the most combat-disabled vets since Vietnam.
The Senator's aide chuckled rather loudly and said, "What VA? By the time this administration is done there won't be a VA." Our conversation had begun with a discussion of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA's) healthcare budget, and quickly came down to a single, simple point. VA is being dismantled.
This piece lays out their plans, and the reasons for them.
Basically, if anything works, or is going to be increasingly needed, kill it. The VA fits both categories.
VA is a large-scale, publicly funded healthcare system that works: VA works so well it has been used as a model to push the case for nationalized healthcare; something that strikes fear in the heart of every Republican.
Well, yeah...
VA is ripe for privatization: And that spells profits for private corporations. The latest move in this direction happened last week on Capitol Hill where the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs approved S. 1182 (see Sec. 10) which would spend money from VA's healthcare budget to study outsourcing jobs of VA healthcare workers. The study, with VA healthcare funds going to private consultants, could cost over $140 million and lead to the loss of up to 36,000 VA jobs. Democrats opposed it, but Republicans pushed it through.
There's money to be made by contributors??
VA is part of BIG government: And that's something this administration abhors. GOP strategist Grover Norquist says he wants the government shrunk down so he can "drown it in the bathtub." The problem with this is that smaller government means fewer services as well as the much-touted lower taxes. And the jobs that are spared are outsourced and cost more to maintain because private corporations have to build in a profit margin.
We have their beloved Trifecta!! It's far from perfect, but with Vietnam veterans aging and Bush War vets entering the system now is when we should be strengthening VA, not gutting it and selling it off.