VA Chief Shulkin Now Advocating More Private Healthcare for Vets

The head of the Veterans Administration now espouses a gradual increase in the role private healthcare plays in the well-being of veterans, David Shulkin told The Wall Street Journal.

"The direction I'm taking this is to give veterans more choice in their care, and be the decision maker for their care, which I fundamentally believe is a concept that has to be implemented," Shulkin told the Journal.

It's a new position for Shulkin, who pledged to fight against privatization at his confirmation hearings earlier this year.

Shulkin's main concern is the cost of the VA remaining the center of care for veterans, whereas opponents of privatization — including veterans' groups — want to keep intact the role oversight plays.

"There is no provider and there's no healthcare insurance that doesn't have someone watching over their insurance plan," Kayda Keleher, spokeswoman for Veterans of Foreign Wars, told the WSJ.

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