Tag Archives: Veterans Affairs

Fact Sheet Veterans’ Healthcare & VA Staffing

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FACT SHEET                                                                 April 17, 2025

No Cuts to Veterans’ Healthcare and VA Staffing 

 

  1. Currently 25-30% of VA employees are veterans. To date, 2,400 VA employees have already been fired. In total, 6,000 veterans have been let go from federal employment.

 

  1. To date there are 18 million living veterans, comprising 6.1% of the population. Nine million veterans received care visits at the VA in 2023. The VA System is the largest integrated healthcare network in the country. More than six million veterans have service-related disabilities.

 

  1. Cuts to VA healthcare services for veterans have already occurred despite assurances to the contrary by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins.

 

  1. The recent freeze on hiring and “return-to office” mandate adversely impacted the Veterans’ Crisis Line (SUICIDE HOTLINE) and eliminated the mental health tele-visit program. The Veterans’ Crisis Line takes 60,000 calls per month. There are 17.6 suicides by veterans per day, and this rate is increasing. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death for veterans under 45 years of age.

 

  1. The VA was a leader in tele-health care until these services were completely eliminated for veterans who live distant from a VA medical center. This directly impacts veterans living in rural areas.

 

  1. Projected cuts will also affect management of medical supplies, appointments and transportation. 

 

  1. In 2025, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs attempted to cancel 875 contracts. These contracts included mission-critical items such as sterilizing equipment and maintenance of generators, boilers and scanning machines. These cuts were later “walked back” because the services were critical to the VA medical centers.

 

  1. The Office of the Inspector General completed its annual audit of the VA in 2024. The August 2024 Report revealed a severe shortage of employees in 98% of VA medical centers. This means 137 of 139 VA medical centers nationwide had staffing shortages in at least one area, particularly doctors, nurses, psychologists and custodians.

 

  1. This audit identified approximately 66,000 job vacancies at the VA in healthcare. The staff shortages cause long wait times for visits and an inability to accept new patients.  
  2. The VA is also losing funds for research. VA research addresses issues including substance abuse, mental health, cancer (lung cancer, head and neck tumors), cardiovascular disease and war-related injuries such as spinal cord and brain trauma.

 

  1. The PACT Act (Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxins Act) in 2022 extended healthcare benefits for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits.

 

  1. The VA enrolled 400,000 veterans for benefits from 3/23 to 4/24, a 30% increase over the prior year.

 

  1. The Secretary of Veterans Affairs currently plans to cut an additional 15-17% of the VA workforce. This represents 80,000 to 83,000 current employees. Secretary Collins said the job cuts are “…to save money.”

 

Author:  Michael Siebers, retired MD

William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans’ Hospital, 27 years’ service

Take Action Now!  Please contact Elected Officials

Find your elected officials

  • US Senators Tammy Baldwin and Ron Johnson   
  • Your Representative to the US House of Representatives | 
  • Spread the word 

~ NO CUTS to Veterans’ Healthcare  ~

 

Join the Save Our VA Project

 

 

 

National Projects of Veterans for Peace

“VFP’s Save Our VA (SOVA) National Campaign seeks justice for veterans and advocates for strengthening the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) for all veterans. The SOVA National Campaign consists of more than a thousand individual veteran and non-veteran supporters contacting their Members of Congress on VA health care issues. SOVA works in collaboration with our allies in the VA unions: the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), National Nurses United (NNU), and National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE). “

Winners, Losers, Friends, and Enemies on the New Terrain of Veterans Affairs

How the U. S. fails its military veterans – WORT-FM 89.9 (wortfm.org)

In their newly release book, “Our Veterans: Winners, Losers, Friends, and Enemies on the New Terrain of Veterans Affairs“, authors Steve Early, Suzanne Gordon, and Jasper Craven discuss many of the obstacles to veterans in the United States.

Faced with efforts on both sides of the aisle to privatize military healthcare, bogus claims by pseudo-veteran-support groups funded by the Koch brothers to undermine the VA medical system, and a congress which pours money into funding the active military but leaves veterans to fight for pennies, the recruitment claims promising education and healthcare for returned military personnel are failing veterans.

The book

Duke University Press – Our Veterans (dukeupress.edu)

Madison VFP Members Testify at VA Privatization Session

VFP members Larry Orr, Lincoln Grahlfs, and Will Williams listen to Suzanne Gordon present at the Madison VA.

Madison VFP Members Testify at VA Privatization Session

By Paul McMahon

Several experienced and VA-knowledgeable VFP members participated in a public information meeting on February 28, 2018 at the Madison Labor Temple about the future of VA medical care. The session focused on an issue that is critical to the future care of veterans in this country—namely the growing efforts to privatize the VA for corporate profit. There is a debate raging in Washington DC about how veterans should receive their health care. While there have always been attempts to privatize parts of veteran care, there have been renewed efforts after employees at the Phoenix VA blew the whistle on management fabricating patient wait lists and putting veterans at risk. Private industry and a Koch brothers-funded organization called the Concerned Veterans of America saw their opportunity and began an all-out assault campaign to take down the VA and farm it out to the private sector. The movement has been gaining support from both sides of the aisle in Washington under the guise of “helping our needy veterans” and “thanking them for their service.”

Perspective at the meeting was presented by Suzanne Gordon. Gordon is an American journalist and author who writes about healthcare delivery and health care systems and patient safety and nursing. She is author, co-author or editor of 18 books. She is currently working on a book about the innovations and clinical care at the Veterans Health Administration.

VFP members Lincoln Grahlfs, Larry Orr and Will Williams all spoke and testified about their excellent treatment at VA facilities. Ms. Gordon urged all present to contact Senators Baldwin, Johnson and their representative (Mark Pocan) to counter the privatization moves. Thanks to all who participated and helped us be better informed. Thank you especially to the American Federation of Government Employes for sponsoring this session and for some of this edited text.

More photos from the event can be found here.