Another Delay Could Scuttle Crucial VA Reform
Legislation and election timelines leave precious few months to launch a once-in-a-generation effort to reset the infrastructure that supports veterans’ health care.
By Anthony Principi
January 23, 2022
There’s going to be a six-week delay in the crucial, once-in-a-generation effort to modernize and rework the Department of Veterans Affairs’ health care infrastructure. The VA secretary wants more time to discuss the recommendations his agency will send to the independent board that will set the course for VA health care for decades to come.
This is a correct decision. The review must be done right; the consequences of failure are grave. But these six weeks must not become a longer delay. If the secretary does not keep the reform process moving, many billions of dollars will be spent on buildings instead of care – and advocates of privatization will gain the upper hand.
Dubbed the Asset and Infrastructure Review, or AIR, the Congressionally mandated process sets up an independent commission similar to the military’s Base Realignment and Closure Commission, or BRAC, which I chaired in 2005. This board will review recommendations submitted to them by VA Secretary Denis McDonough.
https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2022/01/another-delay-could-scuttle-crucial-va-reform/361051/
