Contributed by Major Mike Dryden USAR Ret. -
President Trump recently signed the VA Mission Act to great fanfare, thus fulfilling his campaign promise to veterans. In his campaign, President Trump called the VA “the most corrupt agency” in the federal government and said he would improve veterans access to private sector doctors.
Being a VA patient myself, I have to say the VA in the Anchorage bowl is very good. But veterans who have chosen to live in more rural parts of the state aren’t so lucky. As most of readers know, we live in a state bigger than the Midwest with few if any roads connecting small villages. The remoteness in rural Alaska makes seeing a healthcare specialist almost impossible without a costly airplane flight. Previous efforts to improve the system have fallen short of the advertised benefits. Only time will tell, if this plan is implemented properly, if it will provide better access to veterans residing outside of the Anchorage/Fairbanks metro areas.
The key phrase is “if implemented properly” by the VA. The VA in Alaska has had to address this logistical obstacle before, but this new directive is virgin territory for many VA regions. The POTUS is the top dog in the administration, with almost plenary power over the internal apparatus that operates the VA. However, it will come as no surprise to anyone that un-elected and almost untouchable bureaucracy personnel can make or break any federal program. The passive aggressiveness of past administrations opposition to reform by the VA is a stain only time, and great service in the future will erase.
A Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report issued its analysis of the Mission Act’s cost. The report stated an additional 640,000 veterans would be referred to outside doctors at an additional cost of $52 billion over the next five years. This cost is over the amount alloted in the proposed 2019 budget. Surprise, surprise! The VA said they needed more money. POTUS Trump said to find and cut under-utilized and unnecessary programs within their budget.
The administration also told Congress to find any short fall needed to fund the Mission Act from other agencies outside the VA. The fight is on. In one corner you have DOD, who supplies the veterans and HHS in the other corner who says they can fix anyone with abundant funding. I don’t need a crystal ball to predict neither agency will be able to find a dollar to cut in their present budgets. Both will scream that the other agency has the role to fund this $52B healthcare bill. The mainstream media will run 24/7 coverage of the failure of the POTUS’s VA bill with interviews of veterans that now can’t get help because of the Meany-in-Chief Trump.
I wonder how long it will take before the swamp figures out that they have been trumped (AKA The Art of the Deal). The POTUS will pull out his laser pointer and begin making the mainstream media networks run from pier to post until he’s tired of playing. This is so much better than cable!
Stars and Stripes (a former outlet for my column) obtained a congressional memo which stated, “Without subjecting the program (VA Mission Act) to any budgetary constraint (TANF and SNAP have no caps), there is no incentive to continue to serve veterans with innovative, streamlined and efficient quality of care.”
Let that statement sink in for a minute. Allow me to translate from government filibuster language to laymen terms. Congress is saying the VA hasn’t been doing the job with the money allotted and will do less now.
The memo goes on to say, “…it will have the untended effect of making community care more attractive than care provided by the VA.” So far, I see no problem. Outside medical care is always better because the private sector doesn’t have a monopoly on their patients.
Paraphrasing the remainder of the memo, it states having to cut ongoing programs within the existing VA budget would have the effect of the VA cannibalizing itself and move the VA one step closer to privatization. If the VA ever does go private, the previous VA employees applying for a job better hope the new company’s HR department isn’t populated with Veterans. Another salient point, when you are forced to cut, you cut the fat first. It will be fun to watch them pull out the “close the Veterans Wall” card to see what POTUS Trump does. The proposed 2019 budget is $196B and the increase they say they need to cut totals just over $10B or about 5%. If finding $10B out of $196B is all the VA needs to cut to avoid the sword of Damocles hanging over their head (privatization), I’m betting the VA staff will find the cuts.
Isn’t it amazing what great choices even government can make when their options are explained to them?
The House Democrats are worried about the “No Cap” provision of the bill. While the previous administration was doubling the national debt and adding millions of citizens (and many non-citizens) to the SNAP and TANF (Food Stamps and Welfare) rolls, Democrats had no problems with a deficit. But just 500 days into the Trump presidency, they have found their Bible, US Constitution and their four-function calculator all at the same time.
Must have been in their college backpack. Now that what I call making America great again. :)
