Hegseth and Collins' push for cutting veterans health benefits alarms servicemembers and veterans groups
Source: CNN
Hegseth, now Trump's nominee to serve as secretary of defense, had been a vocal and persistent advocate for veterans having unfettered access to private health care, rather than having to go through the VA to keep their benefits. He's also lobbied for policies that would restrict VA care and believes veterans should ask for fewer government benefits.
"We want to have full choice where veterans can go wherever they want for care," Hegseth told Trump on speakerphone as Shulkin listened, according to Shulkin's 2019 memoir.
Trump's pick to serve as the next VA secretary, Doug Collins, has also expressed support for greater privatization of veteran health care, which advocates characterize as giving veterans greater choice over their doctors. If veterans "want to go back to their own doctors, then so be it," he told Fox News last month.
For Shulkin, a rare "holdover" from President Barack Obama's administration to Trump's, this was "the worst-case scenario" for veteran health care, and one he had repeatedly warned Hegseth against.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/07/politics/pete-hegseth-doug-collins-veterans-health-care/index.html
Drunken Trump nominee caught on stage with strippers
American television host Pete Hegseth has a net worth of $17 Million. Hegseth earns a salary of $5 million annually from Fox News
MERICA YOU BOUT TO FIND OUT
"I've seen him dragged away not a few times but multiple times. To have him at the Pentagon would be scary."
New York Times: Pete Hegseth's mother wrote him an email in 2018 accusing him of mistreating women https://edition.cnn.com/2024/11/30/politics/pete-hegseth-mother-email-new-york-times/index.html
A previously undisclosed whistle-blower report on Hegseth's tenure as the president of Concerned Veterans for America, from 2013 until 2016, describes him as being repeatedly intoxicated while acting in his official capacity--to the point of needing to be carried out of the organization's events.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/pete-hegseths-secret-history
Hegseth was one of 12 national guardsmen flagged as a potential insider threat and removed from the group providing security for the presidential inauguration of Joe Biden https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hegseth-insider-threat-biden-inauguration/
Woman accused Hegseth of raping her at a 2017 Republican women's conference in Monterey, California
https://www.montereycountynow.com/blogs/news_blog/police-report-details-allegations-that-secretary-of-defense-nominee-pete-hegseth-raped-a-woman-in/article_cc7c633e-a7c7-11ef-9e13-af6d1aa8ed78.html
Hegseth seemed to have played a major role in bankrupting the Vets For Freedom by using funds for endless social events and parties https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5017946-pentagon-pick-hegseth-misconduct/
Pete Hegseth accused of chanting 'kill all Muslims' on a drunken night out https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/pete-hegseth-trump-allegations-history-b2657456.html
Pete Hegseth Published Column Saying Sex with Unconscious Woman Isn't Rape https://www.yahoo.com/news/pete-hegseth-published-column-saying-225600849.html
Pete Hegseth accused of being "white supremacist" by civil rights lawyer https://www.newsweek.com/pete-hegseth-defense-secretary-white-supremacist-trump-1986435
Trump Defense Secretary pick Pete Hegseth proudly boasted of never washing his hands: 'Germs are not real' 'Germs are not a real thing.' https://www.newsweek.com/pete-hegseth-hand-washing-video-viral-secretary-defense-trump-1985448
Donald Trump's potential secretary of defense hasn't been straightforward about the violent symbolism of his ink.https://www.thebulwark.com/p/whats-the-deal-with-pete-hegseth-crusader-tattoos
Pete Hegseth Falsely Claims He Was 'Completely Cleared' On Sex Assault Allegation https://www.yahoo.com/news/pete-hegseth-falsely-claims-completely-220040788.html
'Hug goodbye lingered': Writer tells of creepy meeting with 'perfect monster' Pete Hegseth https://www.rawstory.com/pete-hegseth-2669997939/
Trump's defense pick openly fantasized about military attack on 'domestic enemies': report https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/22/trump-defense-secretary-pete-hegseth-book
A whistle-blower report and other documents suggest that Trump's nominee to run the Pentagon was forced out of previous leadership positions for financial mismanagement, sexist behavior, and being repeatedly intoxicated on the job https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/pete-hegseths-secret-history
Hegseth implied that women contracting HIV from partners with known histories of sexual promiscuity bear some responsibility for contracting sexually transmitted diseases, even if their partner deliberately conceals their diagnosis.
https://www.meidasplus.com/p/meidas-exclusive-trump-defense-secretary
republianmushroom
(18,179 posts)Jesus, this country has a lot of gullible people, that vote against their best interest. All to give the rich ,ore tax brakes.
Traildogbob
(10,193 posts)Filling out mileage paper work, and an old, late 70s beaten down obviously very poor Veteran walked up to the other side of the table with a brand new camo Veterans for trump hat. I would bet my pay he draws SS, Medicare, Medicaid and VA disability.
All four are on Trumps cutting board. How the fuck does he think he will survive?
One of the dozens of billionaires in this IKEA cabinet gonna pay his bills? Wanted to slap that damn hat off his ignorant head.
Stupid is gonna bring the once mighty nation to its knees. From too to bottom stupid. Fucking stupid wins. Not high tech weapons of powerful bombs, just plain fucking stupid.
How god damned embarrassing.
C0RI0LANUS
(1,860 posts)choie
(4,703 posts)FightFight
(202 posts)If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.
All on the backs of a fake story about Haitian immigrants eating cats and dogs---now that the election is over its wierd to not hear about this anymore, Have all the pets in Ohio been eaten or are all the Haitian immigrants full?
MERICA YOU F-D AROUND AND NOW ITS TIME TO FIND OUT
Voltaire2
(14,869 posts)who will then extract at least 20-30% of it as profit while providing as little actual healthcare as possible.
Capitalism is increasingly just rent extraction.
groundloop
(12,386 posts)GQP Senators might keep out one or two of the very worst of tRUMP's nominees, but by and large most of them will slither through the process. The USA will become just like Russia, and with the corrupt Supreme Court there's little that can be done about it.
Bristlecone
(10,520 posts)Irish_Dem
(59,689 posts)ananda
(30,933 posts)???
I would guess.
Magoo48
(5,536 posts)Raise a major fucking ruckus. Refuckingsist.
NotHardly
(1,365 posts)sakabatou
(43,251 posts)There are going to be many vets injured due to face-eating leopards.
Bengus81
(7,494 posts)Bet they'd make a Veteran of the Vietnam war a damn good deal per month on health care. Just ask Pete,Eloon and Trump.
The Third Doctor
(388 posts)To start a diet plan.
Cha
(305,853 posts)It's Crazy!
jls4561
(1,600 posts)Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(116,480 posts)NotHardly
(1,365 posts)DownriverDem
(6,679 posts)How many of these Vets voted for trump? They were warned. Hope they are happy.
C0RI0LANUS
(1,860 posts)Years ago I knocked the mothballs off my BDUs and went to an annual IRR muster that was held at a VA medical center. I was the only one in a hundred in uniform. One soldier recognized my campaign patch so we immediately paired up.
Part of these annual musters, besides getting a renumeration and allowing ARPERCEN to update our records, is a medical screening. Great!
When it was my turn in the assembly line I went into a small examination room. A young man not in uniform, asked me about my health etc etc. Nice guy.
But I quickly realized something was a bit "off." So, I asked him if he was a physician. To my eternal surprise, he told me no. He said he's a veterinarian and contractor for the DA.
In that sprawling VA Medical Center, we US Army IRR personnel were medically screened by a veterinarian! So, I told him next year I'll bring my cat.
How much more can the US privatize care for its Soldiers and Veterans?