GOP candidates eye vouchers for veterans

0
974
Was8626723On Veterans’ Day 2011, then-presidential candidate Mitt Romney was in South Carolina, visiting with roughly a dozen veterans, and raised the prospect of privatizing VA care.

“Sometimes you wonder,” the Republican said, “would there be some way to introduce some private sector competition, somebody else that could come in and say, you know each soldier gets X thousand dollars attributed to them and then they can choose whether they want to go on the government system or the private system and then it follows them.”

Almost immediately, a spokesperson for Veterans Of Foreign Wars announced its opposition to the idea: “The VFW doesn’t support privatization of veterans health care.” That was that – Romney backpedaled soon after, saying he was just kicking around a hypothetical scenario he didn’t intend to pursue.

Four years later, however, the idea is apparently increasingly popular among the new crop of Republican presidential candidates.

[Former Gov. Jeb] Bush, sitting in front of an untouched breakfast at an IHOP in Colorado Springs, told a group of veterans that he favors transferring some elements of veterans’ care to private hospitals from government-run Veterans Affairs facilities.

“This is where I think empowering people with the equivalent of a voucher that gives you the same economic benefit of receiving care inside of a clinic or a hospital,” Mr. Bush said in a video of the public event recorded by the Democratic firm American Bridge. “If you had a chance to go to another place where the money followed the patient, it would give the veterans — you wouldn’t have these kind of hostile reactions, my job is protected for life, don’t mess with it.”

The Florida Republican made a similar comment last month, telling a New Hampshire audience, “I know it has a pejorative for some, but I’m all in on the voucher thing.”

ATTENTION READERS

We See The World From All Sides and Want YOU To Be Fully Informed
In fact, intentional disinformation is a disgraceful scourge in media today. So to assuage any possible errant incorrect information posted herein, we strongly encourage you to seek corroboration from other non-VT sources before forming an educated opinion.

About VT - Policies & Disclosures - Comment Policy
Due to the nature of uncensored content posted by VT's fully independent international writers, VT cannot guarantee absolute validity. All content is owned by the author exclusively. Expressed opinions are NOT necessarily the views of VT, other authors, affiliates, advertisers, sponsors, partners, or technicians. Some content may be satirical in nature. All images are the full responsibility of the article author and NOT VT.
Previous articleThe Crowds Did Not Come To the 10TH World Spa & Beauty Exhibition
Next articleA Bully Walks Into a Bar …