Koch Group To Launch Massive Campaign To Increase Private Sector’s Role In VA Care
But the debate over privatizing VA care is fraught with tension -- from advocates who are concerned civilian hospitals wouldn't be prepared for veterans' unique needs to lawmakers who don't want to see the agency undercut.
The Wall Street Journal:
Koch Groups To Mount Hard Press To Expand Private-Sector VA Services
A conservative goal of opening more of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ medical services to the private sector is due to get a push from the well-funded Koch brothers’ network. Brothers Charles and David Koch, whose network is planning to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to advance its conservative agenda across the government and protect vulnerable congressional Republicans, will mobilize several affiliates and subgroups to battle for its vision of the future of the VA, Koch representatives said this week. (Kesling, 11/3)
In other veterans' health care news —
The New York Times:
Veterans Groups Push For Medical Marijuana To Treat PTSD
Among critics of the federal prohibition of marijuana — a diverse and bipartisan group that includes both criminal justice reform advocates and Big Alcohol — the American Legion and its allies stand out. For more than a year, the stalwart veterans group has been working to reframe the debate as a question of not only moral and economic imperatives, but also patriotic ones, arguing that access to medical marijuana could ease suffering and reduce suicide rates among soldiers who return from the horrors of war. (Ugwu, 11/3)
