As with every other issue Donald Trump campaigned on, the Department of Veterans Affairs is trying to figure out what Trump's 10-point plan to “make the V.A. great again” means for veterans' healthcare. Now Trump reportedly has an agency head in mind who just happens to have no military experience, writes Dave Phillips:
Mr. Trump has said he is considering Representative Jeff Miller, Republican of Florida, to run the agency. As the chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, Mr. Miller has hounded the agency for failing to enact meaningful changes to cut wait times and fire workers who hid delays. If selected, he will be the first secretary of veterans affairs who has never served in the military.
Perhaps even more telling is the fact that Trump's transition team is taking its cues from a "fringe" veteran's organization with links to the Koch brothers.
For years, Concerned Veterans for America, based in Washington, was on the fringe of the veteran world, generally shunned by traditional veterans organizations.
During the campaign, though, Mr. Trump echoed privatization policies put out by the group, telling crowds he would give all veterans a card to use with any private doctor who accepted Medicare.
“This is a big, big deal,” Pete Hegseth, a former chief executive of Concerned Veterans for America, said in an interview. “If we keep our pedal to the metal, we can get major reform done in the first six months.”
Yes, that's what we all fear—reforms, lots of them, done quickly.
Many large veterans organizations are concerned about what privatization would actually mean for veterans’ care and how much it would cost, with some people estimating a $50 to $100 billion price tag that could drain the V.A. of critical resources.
But others also worry that the V.A. fight might be less about veterans care than about Concerned Veterans for America putting forth a test run for more broad privatization.
“This is an ideological organization pushing an ideological point,” said Representative Mark Takano, Democrat of California, the acting ranking member of the House veterans committee. “No one else really agrees that privatization is the right way to go. I hope Mr. Trump is a pragmatist and sees that.”