Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Meet The Former Congressman Who Has Become A One-Man Gatekeeper Over VA Lobbying Efforts
Politico: The Congressman Who Turned The VA Into A Lobbying Free-For-All
The Indian Treaty Room is a grand two-story meeting space in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House, with French and Italian marble wall panels, a pattern of stars on the ceiling and the image of a compass worked into the tiled floor. Over the years, it has hosted signing ceremonies for historic foreign policy pacts such as the Bretton Woods agreement and the United Nations Charter. On Nov. 16, 2017, it hosted a different kind of gathering: an intimate meeting called by the White House to discuss the future of the Department of Veterans Affairs. ... Within months of leaving office, By the time the meeting in the Indian Treaty Room took place, [Jeff] Miller had three clients vying for access to veteran patients and VA dollars. He subsequently would lobby on behalf of seven other private interests seeking a piece of the agency’s budget. (Craven, 4/4)
In other news from the military —
The New York Times: The Army Thought He Was Faking His Health Issues. Turns Out He Had Chronic Lead Poisoning.
At age 30, Stephen Hopkins was back in the Army for a second time. After serving as an enlisted soldier from 1991 to 1995, he returned as an officer in 2000. He was a man who routinely maxed fitness tests and endured physical hardship while deployed to rural locales in Afghanistan. Selected for Special Forces training, Hopkins tackled the demanding courses with gusto, later returning to combat for a total of seven deployments. He had a job he loved and excelled at, and his star was ascending. But in 2005, Hopkins began experiencing wild swings in blood pressure. (Kime, 4/3)
