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.”