Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Prominent GOP Senator Voices Support For Shulkin As Trump Mulls Possible Replacement
Politico: Key GOP Senator Backs Shulkin As VA Secretary
A key Republican senator told President Donald Trump over the weekend that he had “full confidence” in Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin, as Senate Republicans fret that Shulkin’s rumored replacement would be impossible to confirm. Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee, said he made the case for keeping Shulkin during a discussion with the president about legislation on veterans care. Trump has been mulling firing Shulkin after reports that Shulkin used taxpayer money on a trip to Europe, and potentially replacing him with a Fox News personality, Pete Hegseth, according to The Washington Post. (Everett, 3/19)
In other veterans health care news —
KCUR: Hundreds Of Veterans In Missouri And Kansas Lost Out On Care At Non-VA Facilities, Report Says
Almost 1,000 veterans in Missouri, Kansas and Illinois were denied care at non-VA facilities because their wait times were incorrectly reported, an audit released last week concludes. The report, by the Office of Inspector General for the Veterans Health Administration, found that 18 percent of appointments for new patients at VA facilities in the three states had wait times longer than 30 days. The facilities' own electronic scheduling systems, however, showed only 10 percent had wait times of more than 30 days. (Margolies, 3/19)
