Unveils plan to reform Veterans Affairs
Calling the Department of Veterans Affairs ‘a total disaster,’ Trump unveils his plan to reform Veterans Affairs health care at a rally in Norfolk, Virginia.
He calls for all eligible veterans eligible for health care at VA hospitals to be allowed the same care at any hospital that accepts Medicare. He says this would increase competition and decrease wait times. He also calls for ‘firing the corrupt and incompetent VA executives’, claiming his plan would end all waste, fraud and abuse. For returning veterans, Trump pledges to increase job training and to incentivize companies to hire them.
Under this plan, we’ll ensure the VA is spending its dollars wisely, not corruptly. I believe a lot of it’s corruption, personally. Nobody can be that incompetent… The Trump plan will clean up VA finances so the current VA budget provides more and better care than it does now. We’ll have money actually left over.
Trump also addresses how he would increase support to female veterans with all VA hospitals permanently staffed with an obstetrician.
Quarter of veterans die waiting
In an internal report with the Department of Veterans Affairs says more than one-fourth of veterans are awaiting medical treatment, end up dead before they receive care. Of the 847,882 applicants that are waiting for enrollment, 238,657 of them have died. Representatives deny the claim, saying that the numbers have been artificially inflated because there is no way to remove former benefit applicants.
Perhaps, but it’s important to note that this information was leaked to the press by Scott Davis, a VA employee with a track record of blowing the whistle on the administration’s past abuses and neglects.