Uncertainty follows new VA Secretary choice

March 29--President Donald Trump's firing of the Department of Veterans Affairs top leader has left an uncertain road ahead for an agency that has progressed in key areas, some say.

Trump removed former VA Secretary David Shulkin this week and nominated White House physician and Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson to replace him following a bruising ethics scandal and a mounting rebellion within the agency.

Shulkin wrote in a New York Times op-ed piece he was undone by advocates of privatization of the VA -- which serves 9 million veterans and has 1,700 sites -- within the administration.

"They saw me as an obstacle to privatization who had to be removed," Shulkin wrote. "That is because I am convinced that privatization is a political issue aimed at rewarding select people and companies with profits, even if it undermines care for veterans."

The White House on Thursday rejected Shulkin's assertions that it was seeking to privatize 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.

U.S. Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Troy, said in an interview with this news outlet Thursday once Shulkin realized he could not support the president's direction, he should have resigned.

"He serves at the pleasure of the president," Davidson said. "The president decided to move forward with someone who was going to support his policies and priorities within the VA."

The VA has made encouraging progress in key areas "but the amount of work left to do is pretty substantial," Davidson said.

The congressman said he did not support privatization of the VA, although more VA services might be best served through private health care.

"To think that the VA would need to replicate every kind of care in a community the size of Dayton, why?" Davidson asked. The VA should be "preeminent" in care for high concentrations of injuries distinct to veterans' military service, such as traumatic brain injury, prosthetics and PTSD, said Davidson, an Army veteran.

"The value of being able to go be with other veterans who are dealing with the same kinds of things is incredibly important and a good reason to sustain the VA," he said.

Michael Haynie, leader of the Institute of Veterans Military Families at Syracuse University, said the New York Times op-ed may have been a reason Shulkin was fired.

"He's talented and he's certainly committed," Haynie said. "I think what he said in his op-ed, this idea that it should not be this hard to serve, tells the story."

Still, Haynie, who knows Shulkin and was a former vice chairman on a federal advisory committee to transform the VA, said the former VA leader had put the sprawling federal agency on the right path.

The VA has been in a "leadership vacuum" since the presidential transition with two key unfilled undersecretary posts in both the Veterans Health Administration and the Veterans Benefit Administration, he added.

"As folks have a conversation about the nominee (Jackson) and one of the things that has to be a part of that conversation is his team and the bench that he has around him and the fact that there are so many unfilled political positions inside the VA, critical positions ... should be concerning," he said.

Kathy Platoni, a Centerville psychologist who counsels veterans, said she was "somewhat disappointed and equally shocked at this rapid departure" of Shulkin.

The federal agency had removed "incompetent" health care professionals at local facilities and sped up payments to VA Choice providers, such as herself, she said.

With a caseload of seven veterans enrolled in the VA Choice program, she had waited six to 14 months for reimbursement. The time line has improved to four to six weeks, she said.

She's also concerned if Shulkin's intended replacement -- Jackson, who gained national attention for his glowing public assessment of Trump's health while the president's mental fitness was questioned -- has the management experience needed to handle the scope of the sprawling VA health care system.

"The VA is probably the most political and most dysfunctional organization in our government, so if he is able to continue to clean up the mess within the system itself, great for him," she said. "If this is a wise choice, one does wonder."

Thomas Hagel, former commander of the Disabled American Veterans' Dayton chapter, said the VA secretary post demands someone who will have the courage to advocate for veterans despite opposition.

"I just hope whoever he appoints is not a yes man," said Hagel, a Vietnam veteran. "I hope whoever he appoints truly is an advocate for veterans meaning he has the integrity to differ with the president if he finds anything amiss."

Corey T. Yoder, 33, a Navy veteran who was stationed at an air base in Iraq, said the VA needs to do more to bring services closer to veterans. For years, the Celina resident commuted about three hours round trip to the Dayton VA to receive pain management treatment for a military-related injury until he was sent to a private health care provider minutes from his home.

"Other veterans don't have that option," he said. "They can't take off that much time to go to the doctor's office and some of them don't have the insurance I have where I am able ... to get other things taken care of."

Shulkin is the second Cabinet secretary to depart over controversies involving expensive travel, following Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price's resignation last September. Trump said in a statement he is "grateful" for Shulkin's service.

Shulkin had agreed to reimburse the government more than $4,000 after the VA's internal watchdog concluded last month that he had improperly accepted Wimbledon tennis tickets and that his then-chief of staff had doctored emails to justify his wife traveling to Europe with him at taxpayer expense. Shulkin also blamed internal drama at the agency on a half-dozen or so rebellious political appointees, insisting he had White House backing to fire them.

But the continuing VA infighting and a fresh raft of watchdog reports documenting leadership failures and spending waste -- as well as fresh allegations that Shulkin had used a member of his security detail to run personal errands -- proved too much of a distraction.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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