Cutting Thousands of Medical Personnel Won’t Reduce Access to Care, Army Surgeon General Says
Even though behavioral health resources are already “strained.”
ELIZABETH HOWE | OCTOBER 12, 2022
Army families are worried about reductions in medical services, particularly in mental and behavioral health, as the service begins to shed thousands of medical billets. But the Army surgeon general told questioners at the AUSA conference on Tuesday that service leaders had worked to ensure that cuts won’t reduce access to care.
Back in 2019, the Pentagon announced plans to cut some 17,000 medical billets, but that number was reduced after groups such as the Military Officers Association of America pushed back. The Army, which originally claimed it could trim 6,900 billets, shrank its cost-cutting efforts to 2,900 billets.
“It was the chief and the secretary who said, ‘You know, General Dingle? No, I'm not going to do that because I'm impacting the readiness of our soldiers and our family members’” Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Scott Dingle said of Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville and Army Secretary Christine Wormuth.
Dingle said the remaining cuts won’t affect the services that troops need most.
https://www.defenseone.com/policy/2022/10/cutting-thousands-medical-personnel-wont-reduce-access-care-army-surgeon-general-says/378306/