Associated Press
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump released a plan on Saturday aimed at improving veterans’ health care and other services in the wake of continued criticism of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Under Trump’s plan, eligible veterans would be able to bring their veterans’ identification cards to any doctor or facility that accepts Medicare and be able to receive immediate treatment. He said the change, which has also been proposed by other GOP candidates, would help improve wait times and services by adding competition.
“The VA will become more responsive to veterans, develop more efficient systems, and improve the quality of care because it will have no other choice,” it reads.
Trump, who has faced criticism for failing to provide policy specifics, previewed the plan during a campaign appearance in front of the battleship USS Wisconsin in Norfolk, Virginia — the same location 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney chose to announce his vice-presidential pick.
Trump’s plan would also increase funding for treating for post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide prevention services as well as provide additional job training and placement. It also calls for better support for female veterans, including improved health services.
“Politicians in Washington have tried to fix the VA by holding hearings and blindly throwing money at the problem. None of it has worked,” reads the paper. “It’s time we stop trusting Washington politicians to fix the problems and empower our veterans to vote with their feet.”
The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump’s plan, however, does not include any details about how much it would cost to implement. He said in Virginia that the changes he’d propose would cost less than he system now him place because he’d stamp out waste.
Trump has made a point of criticizing the way veterans in the country are treated ever since he drew criticism by questioning Sen. John McCain’s status as a war hero early in his campaign. Trump has also released policy papers on immigration, the Second Amendment and tax reform.
Veterans groups have criticized another presidential contender, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, for proposing to eliminate the Veterans Health Administration entirely.
Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
2 comments
Frank Mirabella
October 31, 2015 at 6:30 pm
If he could just get the bureaucrats out from between the physicians and the patients the VA Healthcare program will be a great program.
Dave Francis
October 31, 2015 at 9:47 pm
Not saying Donald Trump reneged on his previous promises about protecting American workers as we relate to H1B visa workers? But Trump did pledge that American employment would always come first? That is good enough for me? Americans and lawful immigrants have the MUST have the advantage, over even talented foreigners; it should be a citizens rights; However Trump did identify himself with both Marco Rubio and Mark Zuckerberg in commending foreign tech workers. But in a new report Donald Trump showed his true colors?
Disney decided to lay-off American citizens for Indian H-1B workers. I immediately forwarded to Trumps Twitter account when I was informed about it. Not saying for one minute that he contacted Disney, Inc, because of my Twitter message, but I relayed on to Trump this fact from the TV station that had received this tip. In a interview with WWSB ABC 7 TV, a trio of soon-unemployed Tech workers were given an ultimatum, that within the 90 days period they had left they were forced to train H1B foreigners or lose their bonus. This is a disgusting tactic on behalf of Disney.
These extremely specialized tech fields yield average salaries in the $100,000 range, but for the younger, foreign workers their norm salary is about $62,000 and some even less, according to the published reports. The response from Disney about outsourcing jobs to Indian workers claiming they were expanded and added jobs for our country IT workers. Marco Rubio earlier made the statement that protections for American workers was seriously important, yet expanding H-1B visas with a cap. This is a serious defect in our laws piled upon us by the House and Senate.
In a Statement Trump Said:
“If I am President, I will not issue any H-1B visas to companies that replace American workers, and my Department of Justice will pursue action against them,” he told Breitbart News when asked about reports that about 250 Disney workers were forced to train their foreign replacements. Trump said lobbyists write the rules to benefit the rich and powerful and accused rival Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio of being in the pay of Silicon Valley CEOs. “They buy off Senators like Senator Marco Rubio to help them get rich at the expense of working Americans by using H-1B visas-so called “high tech” visas-to replace American workers in all sorts of solid middle class jobs.”
Trump also called on Rubio to withdraw his sponsorship of a bill for increasing the H-1B programmers and “return the money he has received from Silicon Valley CEOs and to donate the money to a charity helping unemployed Americans whose jobs Rubio has helped to wipe out.”
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