Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates called for further expansion of a program at the Department of Veterans Affairs that allows veterans to seek healthcare outside the broken government system.
“Why wouldn’t you go into VA and basically say, until we get it fixed, I want the authority for every veteran to be able — if he can’t get an appointment with a physician within two weeks at a VA hospital, why can’t he go to a private physician and have the government pay for that?” Gates said during an appearance Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
Despite a heightened focus on reducing veterans’ wait times at VA facilities since 2014, many veterans must still wait longer than 30 days to get an appointment at their local VA hospital.
“So you basically put the pressure on the VA — if you can’t deliver the goods, we’re going to provide an alternative,” said Gates, who led the Pentagon under both President George W. Bush and President Obama.
The practice of allowing veterans to seek healthcare in the private sector, known as “veterans’ choice,” has become a popular proposal from GOP presidential candidates looking to highlight the systemic failure of the VA under Obama.
However, Hillary Clinton has accused Republicans of attempting to “privatize” the VA and limit veterans’ access to care by suggesting patients have the option of seeing their own doctor.
Clinton has repeatedly attacked Republicans for exploiting the VA, even arguing at one point that her political rivals had exaggerated problems at the agency in order to justify privatizing the entire VA.
