Resolution 974 – support Fully Funding the Veterans Health Administration

WHEREAS the VA healthcare program is currently the largest and most prominent example of single payer health care in the US, which is why Medicare for All activists must pay attention to what is happening to it; and

WHEREAS the system has 150 hospitals, 819 clinics and 300 mental health centers supported on a budget of $200 billion a year, employs 250,000 people (a third of whom are themselves veterans) and sees 230,000 patients a day1; and 

WHEREAS the RAND Corporation study1 “confirmed in great detail that the quality of the VHA’s front line care was equal to or superior to that delivered in the private sector…wait times for appointments with primary care providers or medical specialists at the VHA were actually shorter than those experienced by patients using private doctors or hospitals;” and

WHEREAS it has provided many innovations without patent protection and completely free to the public1 such as

• The implantable cardiac pacemaker

• CAT scans

• The nicotine patch

• The first successful liver transplant in the US

• The use of low dose aspirin to prevent heart attacks

• Prosthetic technology to restore the sense of touch for those losing the use of upper limbs; and

WHEREAS privatization efforts have been camouflaged as efforts to reduce veteran suicides in the Improve Well-Being for Veterans Act HR 3495 (opposed by the Disabled American Veterans, the American Legion, the American Psychological Association and the Veterans Health Care Policy Institute) but in contrast  H Res. 701 would require full funding and staffing of the VA without farming out any of the VA’s activities unless for issues of distance and/or availability2.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that we, the WSDCC call on our congressional delegation to oppose HR 3495 and to support H Res 701.

Submitted by the Washington State Progressive Caucus meeting of August 11, 2020.

Chair Keoki Kauanoe.

References

1Wounds of War: how the VA Delivers Health, Healing and Hope to the Nation’s Veterans

Author: Suzanne Gordon

ISBN-13: 9781501749162

Publisher: Cornell University

2Save Our VA https://saveourva.org/

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