Sanders, announcing his decision to oppose the bill, said he was concerned it would continue a "slow, steady privitization of the VA" and "will open the door to the draining, year after year, of much needed resources from the VA."
"I acknowledge the work done by some of my colleagues to improve this bill, but I believe it moves us too far in the direction of privatization. That is why I will vote against it," he said.
As someone who has done work in many VA hospitals on their equipment for 20 years, I can tell you much of their tech is dated and a lot of facilities are lacking. They have two choices:
1) Massive increases in budget to upgrade an entity the government has already shown it cannot properly manage.
2) Opening access to closer, more modern facilities, improving care and lowering cost.
