Hillary Clinton will roll out her plan to address issues within the Department of Veterans Affairs on Tuesday in New Hampshire, pledging to “modernize” the struggling agency and “overhaul” its governance, according to a fact sheet provided to CNN by Clinton aides.
“The systemic failures of the VA to uphold its core mission underscore the need for fundamental reforms and focused leadership,” reads that fact sheet that describes Clinton’s view. “She will have no tolerance for failure to put veterans first.”
Clinton’s plan would allow some private-sector care, but not full privatization like some Republicans have called for, and would allow VA supervisors “to suspend or remove underperforming employees.”
Clinton will roll out her proposal at a veterans roundtable with the Truman National Security Project, a left leaning organization focused on national security and veterans issues, at a VFW hall in Derry, New Hampshire on Tuesday.
Clinton’s proposals take on an agency that an internal inspector general report found in 2014 was gripped by “systemic” issues with scheduling that caused some veterans to die while waiting for treatment. The scandal led to the resignation of then-VA secretary Eric Shinseki.
A more recent CNN investigation found the problem is actually getting worse — veterans continue to wait months for care at some VA facilities, and a September federally funded report concluded the agency remains “plagued” by problems including growing bureaucracy, staffing challenges and unsustainable costs.
After telling MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow in October that issues within the VA have “not been as widespread as it has been made out to be” — a comment that was blasted by Republicans and Democrats — Clinton has regularly used the word “systemic” to describe the issues within the VA.
Clinton will address VA waitlist issues when she proposes integrating Department of Defense and VA medical evaluations, allowing some “rules-based automatic adjudication” for simple applications and providing veterans with an appeals process to challenge the VA when they think their health claims are unfairly denied.
Clinton will also pledge to end the backlog of disability benefits and appeals by allowing more overtime work within the agency.
As president, according to the fact sheet, Clinton would push for more coordination between the Veterans Health Administration and other insurance providers and allow some private sector care “when it makes sense to do so” or “when the VA cannot provide timely access to necessary care.”
Clinton, however, has been outspoken about not wanting to privatize the VA.
“We need to reform the VA,” Clinton said last month at an event in New Hampshire. “It needs to work, it needs to be responsive and respectful and all of the problems need to be put under a bright spotlight and eliminated.”
But Clinton also faulted Republicans for using “the problem as an excuse to privatize the VA and to end it as part of their ideological crusade.”
Clinton will also pledge to be more vigilant in monitoring the VA. Clinton will propose establishing a new oversight governance board and will promise to “personally convene the Secretaries of Veterans Affairs and Defense regularly in the Oval Office.”
And on veteran suicides, something she speaks about regularly on the trail, Clinton will propose increasing funding for mental health providers and training within the VA and expanding programs for “veterans that have participated in classified or sensitive missions without compromising non-disclosure requirements.”
Clinton’s proposal also moves to address veteran homelessness by increasing funding for the problem and making the post-9/11 GI bill, which provided increased benefits to new veterans, permanent for both veterans and their families.
Clinton currently has no plans to campaign Wednesday on Veterans Day, but General Wesley Clark, retired four-star General and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, will headline four events for Clinton throughout Iowa.
Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, Clinton’s top rival for the Democratic nomination, served on the Senate Veterans Committee and helped pass a bill with Sen. John McCain to reform that VA.
And former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley announced his veterans plan Monday, promising to increase “transparency, accountability And outcomes” by increasing scrutiny on the administration.