Today, we’re going to be talking about the largest health care system in the United States – the Veterans Health Administration — and the turmoil it is currently experiencing at the hands of the Trump administration.
The VHA serves more than 9 million veterans every year. It operates 170 hospitals and nearly 1,200 outpatient clinics throughout the country. It employs over 370,000 health care workers – or at least it did until President Trump and the Veterans Administration secretary began wielding a meat cleaver at the agency. (The VHA is a sub-agency of the VA.)
You would think that in the current political environment veterans’ health care would be sacrosanct. It is not.
The Trump regime is on a pace to shrink the VHA’s workforce by 30,000 this year. That’s 1 out of every 12 workers. Their working conditions are deteriorating rapidly. Earlier this month, the VHA sought to take away their voice by cancelling all its union contracts – a move that the VHA’s unionized workforce is challenging in court.
Morale among VHA workers is plummeting. Thousands of experienced physicians and nurses are heading for the exits. The VA inspector general’s annual report released earlier this month revealed the staff shortages that have plagued the agency for years grew substantially worse during the first few months of Trump’s second term – up 50% from a year ago. Ninety-four percent of facilities reported severe occupational staffing shortages for Medical Officers, and 79 percent of facilities reported severe shortages for Nurses.
To discuss what’s going at America’s largest health care system, I reached out to Suzanne Gordon, a health policy researcher and journalist who has dedicated her career to studying the VHA. Her work and op-eds have appeared in numerous publications, ranging from the New York Times to The Atlantic to The American Prospect. She is a co-founder of the Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute and has written two books on veterans health.
Listening to her views is definitely worth a half hour of your time.
For further reading:
“Veterans’ Health Care Choice – Myth or Reality? by the Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute. August 2025.
“The Illusion of Choice” by Suzanne Gordon, The American Prospect, August 2025.
“Making Use of VA Hospital Overcapacity: Expand Access to Reduce Costs” by Chris Pope, senior fellow, Manhattan Institute. June 2025.
