Ousted VA boss David Shulkin slams Trump admin plan to privatize veterans’ health care

March 29--Ousted Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin fired back at the Trump administration Thursday -- blasting plans to privatize veterans' health care as a "political issue."

Shulkin, in part, blamed his dismissal on "the ambitions of people who want to put VA health care in the hands of the private sector" and said political agendas have become more important than the care of the 9 million military veterans in more than 1,700 government-run health facilities.

"They saw me as an obstacle to privatization who had to be removed," Shulkin wrote in a New York Times Op-Ed. "As I prepare to leave government, I am struck by a recurring thought: It should not be this hard to serve your country."

Later Thursday, Shulkin told MSNBC's Chris Hayes he'd spoken to Trump on the phone on the day he was fired -- and the President didn't mention he was firing him. He said he was told by Chief of Staff John Kelly shortly before the President tweeted about his departure.

Some vets are wary of all the changes, noting that switching up leadership tends to slow things down.

"We need consistency at the top to move such a large department forward with any chance of success," said Elana Duffy, an Army veteran who co-founded the veteran resource review platform Pathfinder Labs Inc. "Shulkin was very well qualified to conduct assessments and work on improving the VA."

Gonzalo Duran, the CEO of Devil Dog USA, a Bronx-based nonprofit that assists former service members with housing and other issues, said Shulkin had done "some good and some bad."

Care has improved, said Duran, a Marine sergeant who served in Iraq, but the befuddling bureaucracy has grown harder to navigate recently.

He agrees that the privatization and even centralization of places like call centers has made interactions with the VA worse.

"In the last six months the outsourcing has really taken off," he said. "There's no transparency. Other local agencies and groups helping vets were unaware of the change so there's been a lot of confusion."

Shulkin -- haunted by an ethics scandal involving travel and tickets to Wimbledon that he and his wife accepted while in Europe -- was the sole Obama-era holdover in President Trump's cabinet and he's breaking with tradition by speaking out about his exit.

Trump announced on Twitter Wednesday that he was replacing the first non-veteran to head the VA with White House doctor Ronny Jackson, a Navy rear admiral.

Shulkin didn't name the President in his appeal, but seemed to take direct aim at the man in the Oval Office, blaming the "toxic" and "chaotic" environment of Washington for hampering him at the VA.

He vowed to "speak out against those who seek to harm the V.A. by putting their personal agendas in front of the well-being of our veterans."

The White House on Thursday rejected the idea that it was working toward privatizing the agency.

"This administration has taken several unprecedented steps to transform and modernize the VA, and there are no discussions about privatizing it," said White House spokesman Raj Shah. "We look forward to continuing our work with Congress to reform and strengthen the VA Choice program to provide our veterans with more choice in their health care."

The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. saluted Shulkin for his "faithful and dedicated service to veterans of all generations."

"The VFW wishes him and his family all the best in their futures," said VFW National Commander Keith Harman.

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