The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is more than just a health care provider for those who have served — it stands as a symbol of what a national, government-run health care system could achieve if scaled to the broader American population. This is precisely why Republican leaders and conservative think tanks have spent years trying to dismantle it, using privatization as their Trojan horse. The VA is not perfect — no system is — but its shortcomings should be addressed through reform and investment, not by dismantling the system entirely.
Pete Hegseth, Fox News commentator whom Donald Trump wants to lead the Pentagon, has demonstrated that he fundamentally misunderstands the VA and the care it provides to our veterans. Discussing veteran disability ratings in 2019, Hegseth claimed: “I could be rated for 50 percent right now if I wanted to be.” Hegseth, who has no combat injuries, would be highly unlikely to qualify for a 50 percent disability rating. His misconception extends further, as he appears to believe that every rating the VA assigns simply adds up to increase a veteran's overall rating — which is not how the system works. For instance, the VA can issue multiple 10 percent ratings, but a veteran's overall rating might still remain at 10 percent. Similarly, the VA frequently issues 0 percent ratings; I personally have three of those.
Even more troubling is Hegseth's bias against veterans seeking care. In that same Fox News discussion, he claimed that veterans advocacy groups “encourage vets to apply for every government benefit they can ever get after they leave the service,” adding that “a lot of groups are convincing vets to take more from the system as opposed to just what you need for the service you gave.”
As a Junior US Minnesota National Guard Reserve Officer, Hegseth has no understanding of what active-duty veterans who served three, four, or even five tours in Iraq, Afghanistan, and beyond have endured. This lack of perspective makes him wholly unfit to serve as the United States Secretary of Defense. Hegseth's disdain for our veterans goes beyond his complete lack of understanding of what soldiers, sailors, and Marines experience, and the care they need — and earned.
The VA is the closest thing the United States has to universal health care. It provides integrated care to millions of veterans, many of whom suffer from complex, service-related injuries that private health care systems are ill-equipped to address. The VA's strength lies in its specialized expertise, its ability to coordinate care across multiple disciplines, and its ability to address the unique needs of veterans, from PTSD to prosthetics. Studies have consistently shown that the VA outperforms the private sector in quality of care, patient satisfaction, and cost-effectiveness. After years of trial, error, and legislation, the VA has become pretty damned good at providing health care to its veterans.
What often gets lost in the conversation about the VA is its “Fourth Mission”: to improve the nation's preparedness for emergencies, including war, terrorism, natural disasters, and public health crises. The VA isn't just a health care provider for veterans — it's a cornerstone of the nation's emergency response infrastructure.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the VA deployed personnel to more than 50 states and territories, providing direct patient care, testing, and critical resources like personal protective equipment (PPE). Over 1.1 million pieces of PPE — including gowns, gloves, masks, and face shields — were distributed to state and local facilities. In addition, the VA admitted 697 non-veteran citizens for care at VA medical centers, underscoring its commitment to serving the broader public in times of crisis.
This support wasn't limited to equipment. The VA offered ventilators, oxygen concentrators, and even mountable plexiglass isolation stations to bolster health care systems nationwide. It provided training and education for state and community nursing homes and deployed staff to assist facilities overwhelmed by COVID-19 cases. This level of integrated, rapid-response action exemplifies what a well-funded, centralized health care system can achieve — not just for its core beneficiaries, but for the entire nation. Tearing down a vital source of medical infrastructure that took decades to master would be the undoing of the American health care system as we know it.
The VA exposes the fallacy of the GOP's argument that government-run health care is inherently inefficient. It proves that a well-funded, centralized health care system can deliver better outcomes at a lower cost — and even play a critical role in national emergency preparedness. For Republicans, this is an existential threat to their anti-government ideology. If the VA can work for veterans and support the nation in times of crisis, why not expand a similar model to all Americans?
Hegseth, Trump's nominee to run the Pentagon, and Doug Collins, Trump's nominee to lead the VA, have both advocated for the privatization of veterans' health care, framing it as an issue of giving veterans more “choice.” They have been outspoken critics of VA health care, despite neither having significant combat experience nor a personal reliance on the VA's specialized, vital services for those wounded in combat. This so-called choice, however, comes with hidden costs: the dismantling of the VA's integrated system, skyrocketing expenditures, and the erosion of expertise critical to veterans' care. Privatization wouldn't just harm veterans; it would also strip the nation of a critical tool for emergency preparedness.
Privatizing the VA would mean transferring veterans' care to a system driven by profit rather than outcomes. Private providers lack the expertise to handle conditions like toxic exposures, combat-related trauma, and complex prosthetics. Moreover, the private sector's profit motives often lead to care denial, not care delivery.
The VA's Fourth Mission underscores the dangers of dismantling this system. In times of crisis, no private health care model can replicate the VA's ability to rapidly deploy resources, personnel, and expertise to meet the nation's needs. From Covid-19 to natural disasters, the VA has proven itself indispensable not just to veterans, but to the country as a whole. This mission, combined with the VA's other critical roles — such as honoring, cremating, and interning deceased veterans through the National Cemetery Administration and supporting service members with benefits like the GI Bill and VA home loans — demonstrates the comprehensive value of this institution.
This fundamental misunderstanding underscores the larger issue: Veterans like Hegseth and Collins, a former military chaplain, lack firsthand experience with the challenges faced by combat-injured veterans. Veterans overwhelmingly value the VA for its specialized care and community support. Even critics recognize that the VA's integrated system is uniquely capable of addressing the complex needs of veterans and providing critical emergency support.
The debate over the VA is a microcosm of the broader health care debate in America. Those who seek to privatize the VA are not just attacking veterans' health care; they are attacking the very idea of public health care. They fear that the VA's success could inspire Americans to demand a universal system for everyone.
And they're right to be afraid. If the VA can provide high-quality care to millions of veterans and act as a linchpin in national emergencies, it could serve as a blueprint for a national system that ensures no American is left without health care. The fight for the VA is not just a fight for veterans — it's a fight for the soul of American health care and emergency preparedness. We must defend it, not just for those who have served, but for the promise it holds for us all.
Michael Embrich is a veteran, former member of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs' Advisory Committee on the Readjustment of Veterans, and former congressional staffer.
