Former Secretary of Veteran Affairs David Shulkin was
recently fired from his post. Supposedly
Shulkin was fired due to scandals as well as his opposition to the privatization
of the VA.
Mr. Shulkin wrote an op-ed in the NY times recently where he
said “I believe strongly in the mission of the Department of Veternas Affairs,
and nothing about my political experience in Washington could ever change
that. I also believe that maintaining a
strong VA is an essential piece of the puzzle that is the United States’
national security system: We can only expect our sons and daughters to risk
their lives and fight for our freedom if we can keep our promise to care for
them when they return home broken, injured or traumatized. There is no excuse for not holding up our end
of the bargain.”
What a load of bunk!
This is an embarrassment that a man of that high office
could have such limited knowledge. Later
in the piece Shulkin states “As many of you know, I am a physician, not a
politician.” No kidding! Mr. Shulkin has
immense more knowledge than me in medicine but clearly knows nothing of
economics, politics or even national defense.
Good riddance, David.
Shulkin states a VA is an essential piece of the national
security of the US. Perhaps if we stop
sending young and full of life young men to foreign countries where they can’t
tell the difference between civilian and enemy where they end up taking
innocent lives for some unknown end goal we may have slightly less need for
medical services back home.
Shulkin states that we can only expect our sons and
daughters to risk lives when we promise to care for them when they return
home. Tell this to those who were
conscripted into fighting in Vietnam.
They were forced to fight regardless of the care situation back home.
Shulkin implies that by privatizing the VA we would fail to
provide care for veterans when they return home. Does Shulkin have the slightest idea how
either markets or charity works?
When Mr. Shulkin provided care in his physician practice,
did he only do so because the government forced him to? Or did he maybe provide care because he made
a living from providing value to his patients and he felt fulfilled in aiding
his patients to recovery?
In his opposition to the privatization of the VA, Mr.
Shulkin embodies some of the worst and most disheartening ignorance in
politics.
Does Mr. Shulkin realize that veterans would love to choose
regular hospitals for access to care because the VA is slow, ineffective and is
constantly on the defensive from latest scandals.
Privitizing the VA is:
1.
The most moral thing to do
2.
Irrelevant for national security (though we
could be more secure by not starting wars all over the world)
3.
An easy way to save the government money
4.
The best way to ensure veterans actually get
high quality healthcare back home when in need.
Mr. Shulkin ought to be ashamed of himself.
I don’t have much hope for Trump actually privatizing the VA
but he deserves credit for floating the idea and should be urged at every
moment to follow through. I will be
doing my best to convince him!
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