Rex fired hours after calling out Russia spy attack

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Shulkin: They wanted me gone because I was against privatizing


https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/29/david-shulkin-responds-firing-491272

Quote:Shulkin, for his part, blamed his ouster on “the ambitions of people who want to put VA health care in the hands of the private sector,” something he opposes, lamenting that a political power struggle over his department made it tougher to do the work of running and improving the VA.

“They saw me as an obstacle to privatization who had to be removed,” Shulkin wrote in his New York Times op-ed, published shortly after midnight on Thursday. “As I prepare to leave government, I am struck by a recurring thought: It should not be this hard to serve your country.”

The former VA secretary laid out in his op-ed his argument against the privatization of health care for the nation’s veterans, a goal he said exists within the Trump administration. The private sector, Shulkin said, is “ill-prepared” to deal with health care for veterans, who are numerous and have specific needs different from those of the general population. The VA, on the other hand, has an understanding of the health problems faced by veterans and has done “groundbreaking research” that, taken together, cannot be easily replicated by the private health care system.

“I believe differences in philosophy deserve robust debate, and solutions should be determined based on the merits of the arguments. The advocates within the administration for privatizing V.A. health services, however, reject this approach,” Shulkin wrote. “That is because I am convinced that privatization is a political issue aimed at rewarding select people and companies with profits, even if it undermines care for veterans.”