We Knew This Downward Spiral Could Happen

“They Knew. They Were Told. They Did the Opposite.” That’s how leading VA healthcare policy expert and journalist Suzanne Gordon describes what happened after the VA commissioned – and later buried – its own 2024 Red Team Report that warned continued outsourcing would hollow out VA direct care, drain staffing and infrastructure, and trigger a self-reinforcing downward spiral.  

Yet the trajectory of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) over the past decade has shown that outsourcing care – increased privatization – is accepted as the future of VA healthcare by the administrators at the helm.  

As threats to VHA continue to escalate, Gordon recently nudged Navy veteran and journalist, Theresa “TBird” Aldrich, to resurrect the Red Team Report. Based on the Red Team’s own findings and Gordon’s extensive reporting, Aldrich's quick and thorough analysis of what’s at stake is a must-read. Click here to read more.

We Sounded the Alarm Ten Years Ago

Michael Blecker, a lifelong advocate for fellow veterans and Executive Director Emeritus of Swords to Plowshares, served on the federal Commission on Care created under the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014.  

In 2016, after extensive review of VHA care and infrastructure, the 15-member Commission issued 18 recommendations. Michael supported 17 but refused to support the one that called for a systemic redesign of VA healthcare by outsourcing care – encouraging and directing veterans to find doctors in the ‘community’, pushing them away from the ecosystem built to handle their specific needs.

In Blecker’s formal dissent, he argued that the privatization of VHA care posed an existential threat to the health and stability of all veterans.  

He wrote: “The bottom line is that the Commission has adopted a dangerous idea. And it has failed the most fundamental principle owed veterans who rely on VA healthcare, the principle that we should ‘do no harm.” That principle still applies.  

What You Can Do

If you or a veteran you know are experiencing any challenges with VA healthcare, we encourage you to contact your elected representatives and share your story. Examples may include:  

• Losing your trusted VA provider due to a layoff or resignation

• Dealing with a change or minimization of VA healthcare operational hours due to loss of staff at your local VA

• Wanting to access a VA doctor or service that is no longer available due to cuts to VA healthcare  

• Being denied access to a VA service and redirected to community care despite preference to go to your local VA

• Difficulty navigating community care appointments, paperwork, or transportation

• Unexpected medical bills from a community care visit

• Substandard treatment during at a community care appointment or with a community care provider

• Adversely affected by a lack of coordination with the VA by a community care provider

You can help ensure VA healthcare remains accessible, effective, and focused on veterans. Let your representative know you’re worried about the privatization of the VA healthcare system and urge them to keep VA healthcare in-house and fully funded.

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