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Fast Money & Foreign Objects
Leading Senate Candidate Says He’s Open To Eliminating The VA
BY SCOTT KEYES
NOV 3, 2015 8:58AM
CREDIT: AP
GOP nominee in FL-13 David Jolly
The leading Republican candidate running to represent Florida in the U.S. Senate announced that he’s open to “dismantling” the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and devolving it to the states.
Appearing on Boston Herald Radio last week, Rep. David Jolly (R-FL) discussed a bill he’s been pushing, H.R. 3183, that would provide health care to eligible veterans outside the VA system.
The radio host then asked Jolly whether the federal government should even have a Department of Veterans Affairs. “Some Americans would like to see the VA just dismantled on the federal level and just provided in all 50 states,” the host told Jolly. “Could that be another solution to fixing the VA? Basically, dismantling it on the federal level and bringing it back to the state level?”
“You know, it may be,” Jolly responded. “Government never gets into services and reduces cost and reduces size. It always increases costs, increases inefficiency.”
Listen to it (beginning at 10:15):
About 1.5 million veterans live in Florida, a higher concentration than any other state besides California and Texas. Nearly 100,000 of them served in World War II.
The Department of Veterans Affairs, with a budget of over $150 billion, plays a crucial role in ensuring their benefits and health care. Though the agency’s excessive wait-time scandal in 2014 warranted widespread outrage and subsequent reforms, studies and anecdotes show that most veterans like the care they receive at the VA. A 2013 survey, for instance, found that 93 percent of veterans who used the VA system had a favorable impression. That figure that hasn’t dropped below 90 percent for the past decade.
Despite inadequate funding to modernize the agency’s health care infrastructure, the VA has retained widespread support among veterans. As a result, even right-wing conservatives like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) have called the VA a “vital government system” and “a promise we have made” to veterans.
But with Jolly running against a crowded field for the Republican Senate nomination, the congressman has been doing his best to out-conservative his competitors. This strategy has been working thus far, with the most recent polling shows Jolly as the narrow frontrunner in the Republican primary.
The Senate primary election will take place on August 30, 2016. Democratic Reps. Alan Grayson and Patrick Murphy are also vying for the seat.
Leading Senate Candidate Says He’s Open To Eliminating The VA
thanks @Mephistopheles
BY SCOTT KEYES
NOV 3, 2015 8:58AM
CREDIT: AP
GOP nominee in FL-13 David Jolly
The leading Republican candidate running to represent Florida in the U.S. Senate announced that he’s open to “dismantling” the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and devolving it to the states.
Appearing on Boston Herald Radio last week, Rep. David Jolly (R-FL) discussed a bill he’s been pushing, H.R. 3183, that would provide health care to eligible veterans outside the VA system.
The radio host then asked Jolly whether the federal government should even have a Department of Veterans Affairs. “Some Americans would like to see the VA just dismantled on the federal level and just provided in all 50 states,” the host told Jolly. “Could that be another solution to fixing the VA? Basically, dismantling it on the federal level and bringing it back to the state level?”
“You know, it may be,” Jolly responded. “Government never gets into services and reduces cost and reduces size. It always increases costs, increases inefficiency.”
Listen to it (beginning at 10:15):
About 1.5 million veterans live in Florida, a higher concentration than any other state besides California and Texas. Nearly 100,000 of them served in World War II.
The Department of Veterans Affairs, with a budget of over $150 billion, plays a crucial role in ensuring their benefits and health care. Though the agency’s excessive wait-time scandal in 2014 warranted widespread outrage and subsequent reforms, studies and anecdotes show that most veterans like the care they receive at the VA. A 2013 survey, for instance, found that 93 percent of veterans who used the VA system had a favorable impression. That figure that hasn’t dropped below 90 percent for the past decade.
Despite inadequate funding to modernize the agency’s health care infrastructure, the VA has retained widespread support among veterans. As a result, even right-wing conservatives like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) have called the VA a “vital government system” and “a promise we have made” to veterans.
But with Jolly running against a crowded field for the Republican Senate nomination, the congressman has been doing his best to out-conservative his competitors. This strategy has been working thus far, with the most recent polling shows Jolly as the narrow frontrunner in the Republican primary.
The Senate primary election will take place on August 30, 2016. Democratic Reps. Alan Grayson and Patrick Murphy are also vying for the seat.
Leading Senate Candidate Says He’s Open To Eliminating The VA
thanks @Mephistopheles
IMO the military and govt official should be in strict charge of the VA...
