VA fits the definition of a social program

To the editor,

We are having a completely backward debate about government spending in this country, and it is time to call out the glaring rhetorical double standards. For years, political discourse has slammed programs like Medicaid, SNAP and even Social Security as "socialist welfare." Meanwhile, the Department of Veterans Affairs is fiercely defended by the exact same critics as a sacred, earned employment benefit. But if you look at the actual financial plumbing and operational rules of these systems, the truth is exactly the reverse.

Social Security and Medicare are structurally social insurance policies. Workers directly fund them through a dedicated FICA payroll tax deducted from every single paycheck they earn. FICA covers roughly 90% of Social Security and a major portion of Medicare. If you do not pay into the system, you do not collect a dime. They are earned personal investments.

By contrast, the VA budget is funded 100% out of the U.S. Treasury’s General Fund via general income taxes and federal debt. There is no independent trust fund or dedicated payroll tax. Mechanically, the VA is the only fully nationalized, government-run healthcare system in America.

Because Congress underfunds this system, the VA does not honor career longevity at the point of care. The VA relies on civilian, welfare-style means tests to ration its healthcare. It uses household income thresholds — the exact same math used for Medicaid and SNAP — to determine priority. If a two-year non-combat veteran has a low income, they get fast-tracked to Priority Group 5 with free care. If a 20-year retiree has a healthy pension and a civilian job, they are pushed down to Priority Group 8, facing longer wait times and when applicable copays. This means-testing even dictates late-life dignity: while the low-income veteran receives fully subsidized institutional care, the career retiree must submit an invasive asset assessment and pay thousands out-of-pocket for a VA nursing home bed. At the point of service, the VA stops being an employment contract and becomes a classic social safety net.

This exposes a massive political paradox. For decades, conservative politicians have condemned tax-funded, means-tested safety nets like Medicaid as "socialist overreach." Yet, these same politicians are the strongest champions of the VA — a 100% tax-funded, government-operated, means-tested healthcare system.

Our endless screaming matches over "socialism" are never actually about the structural mechanism of the program. They are about who is deemed politically worthy of receiving government-managed care. If we are going to debate federal spending honestly, we must admit that the VA fits the definition of a social program perfectly. The political label changes depending on who gets the money, but the machinery is exactly the same.

Ask you’re self’s, which party Democrat or Republican sponsors socialism.

Clint Dunn

Dayton