Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Save our VA

Alvin,
The Trump Administration's multipronged campaign to privatize VA healthcare and push millions of veterans out of the VA system remains deeply unpopular among American veterans.  Their efforts are deeply troubling.
The campaign began in January with to a proposal to implement the 2018 MISSION Act with new access regulations which allow any veteran who drives more than 30 minutes to seek VA healthcare care to instead seek care in the private-sector.  These new regulations are meant to channel millions of veterans out of VA healthcare and shift billions of dollars out of the VA budget into the hands of private-sector hospitals, doctors and other providers where they will face long waits for healthcare that is of lower quality than is delivered by the VHA. 
Meanwhile, rather than adjusting VA proposals to meet the needs of veterans, Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie has a better idea – deny that the MISSION Act access changes – which include funding private care at taxpayer expense – amount to privatization at all.  In numerous press releases, Wilkie adamantly denied that channeling millions of veterans – and billions of taxpayer dollars – to private-sector health care providers amounts to VA privatization.  VA spokesman Curt Cashour announced on February 23 that, "Privatization is a myth that has been thoroughly debunked."
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At the center of the campaign to privatize the VA has been the Koch brothers-funded Concerned Veterans for America (CVA) who unleashed their own PR offensive refuting critics who contend the VA's plan to funnel money to private care will lead to VA privatization.  
When the VA released it access regulations it also opened a period for public comments on these guidelines to be submitted on the Federal Register.  Anyone can submit their own comments in the next two weeks, until March 25th. 
Last month, we encouraged you to write your Congressional representative to protest the MISSION Act's proposed regulations and more than 400 of you responded but the fight continues to SAVE OUR VA.  Now we are asking you to again take action by writing your comments about the VA's regulations and privatization in the Federal Register.  
We have all the information you need about how the regulations will impact VA healthcare on a VFP flyer.
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P.S.  We'd love to hear from you once you've submitted your comment!  Email us your comment at sdelano897@aol.com so our Save Our VA Working group can keep track!
 

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