June 03, 2014

Can Civilian Health Care Help Fix The VA? Congress Weighs In

Featuring: Phillip Carter

Journalist: Quil Lawrence

Veterans across the country are still waiting too long for medical care, a situation that drove the of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki last week.

Now Republicans and Democrats in Congress are competing to pass laws they think will fix the problem of medical wait times and other problems at the VA. The discussion over how to reform veterans' health care is starting to sound familiar.
 
"Every debate about the VA becomes a parable for government's role in health care generally," says with the nonprofit Center for a New American Security.
 
"Efforts to improve and build the VA will run into opposition based on a desire to minimize the government's role in health care," Carter says. "Efforts to strip the VA or shift functions to the private sector will run into intense opposition from ... [members of] the vet community who believe the VA represents the nation's brick-and-mortar commitment to its veterans."
 
Read the full story at NPR. 

Author

  • Phillip Carter

    Former Senior Fellow and Director, Military, Veterans, and Society Program

    Phillip Carter was the former Senior Fellow and Director of the Military, Veterans, and Society Program at the Center for a New American Security. His research focused on issu...