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open by the Trump administration. Veterans “know
they can get high-quality care at the VA,” says his
campaign website. “It’s our job to make it easier—
not harder—for them to get that high-quality care.”
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive repre-
sentative from New York, has also vehemently de-
fended the VA against calls for privatization. “If it ain’t
broke, don’t fix it,” she admonished critics in a town
hall in April 2019. “Who are they trying to fix it for is
the question we’ve got to ask. They’re trying to fix the
VA for pharmaceutical companies, they’re trying to
fix the VA for insurance corporations, and ultimately,
they’re trying to fix the VA for a for-profit health care
industry that does not put people or veterans first.”
Opponents of national health care point to
recent scandals that paint the VA as a troubledgovernment health care on an enormous scale, en-
tirely administered, delivered and paid for by the U.S.
government. If that’s not socialism, what is?
The VA is, in fact, more of a socialist enterprise
than anything Bernie Sanders has proposed. His
Medicare for All would be an insurance program—
patients would use private doctors, hospitals and
clinics, who would then be reimbursed by Uncle
Sam. (Much like Medicare, except Sanders’ plan
would pay the costs of health care received by near-
ly all Americans.) The VA, by contrast, directly em-
ploys 11,000 doctors and owns its 1,200 hospitals.
The VA has become something of a darling
among the progressive wing of the Democratic par-
ty. Sanders’ plan would not only preserve the VA in-
tact, it would increase funding to fill vacancies left
“BY MOST MEASURES, THE VA IS ARGUABLY
THE BEST-RUN HEALTH CARE OPERATION
IN THE UNITED STATES.”