The DOGE effort to make the government more efficient is trimming muscle and bone from the Veterans Health Administration. More veterans are now using the VA, while at the same time, VA’s service is improving with higher satisfaction ratings, higher quality care and better outcomes than the private sector. Finally, the VA is providing this at equivalent or, in some cases, lower cost than the private sector.
What might happen after the chainsaw does its work? Will veterans suffer from longer wait times for care, including care for both the visible and invisible trauma of war? Will the 40% of veterans who use some form of telehealth for care be forced to drive for hours for care, or will they simply stop receiving care? Will veterans injured in active duty wait even longer for their first disability check? Will the physicians, nurses, psychologists and other health professionals and the staff needed to ensure the infrastructure of the largest integrated health system in the United States operates safely lose faith in their employer and decide to leave the system and never choose to return? And as a result, will veterans suffer and report, once again, just as after the Vietnam War, that they have been abandoned by their country?
Dr. David Macpherson
Lower Burrell
The writer is a retired physician who served veterans for 30 years in the Department of Veterans Affairs.