Working with AFGE Local 1732 in Madison, Wisconsin, the South Central Federation of Labor, the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, and the AFT-Wisconsin chapter have each passed a resolution against congressional efforts to privatize the Veterans Affairs health care system. Behind these privatization efforts are the Koch brothers who also fund a front group named Concerned Veterans for America (CVA), which has been pushing Congress to hand over veterans’ health care to for-profit businesses.
Congress has provided a temporary increase in the use of non-VA health care services to increase access and reduce wait lists. It passed the Veterans’ Access to Care through Choice, Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014, which privatizes health care to potentially three million veterans with actual costs estimated to be 30% higher than VA care. AFGE was able to secure $5 billion under the same law for additional hiring of VA medical staff.
AFGE is urging our VA locals to work with their state feds to pass a resolution against VA privatization.
