Mike Levin: The New VA Budget Pushes to Privatize Care, Risking the Veterans Health System

My op-ed on Military.com

While the recent headlines have been dominated by the passage of President Donald Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" and its impacts on Medicaid and food assistance, something critical is happening that every veteran -- and every American who honors their service -- needs to know.

On the surface, the new Department of Veterans Affairs budget proposal from the Trump administration and House Republicans looks generous. It increases total VA health care funding. However, nearly 75% of all new medical care funding is not going to the VA system at all. Instead, it is being shifted to outside private providers. That includes a $14.4 billion increase in funding for community care, a 67% jump from last year, and there has been no clear explanation for why this massive increase is necessary.

Community care was created during the Obama administration and expanded during the first Trump administration, all for good reasons. If a veteran lives in a rural area, faces long wait times, or needs care the VA cannot provide, they should be able to get help from a provider in their community. That is something I have long supported. But what is happening now is something very different. We are watching the slow dismantling of the VA from the inside out, buried in a budget document. If left unchecked, this will fundamentally weaken the VA system that millions of veterans rely on.

This is not just bad policy. It is also unnecessary. In 2024, veteran trust in VA health care reached a record 92%. Veterans are increasingly choosing the VA for their health care needs not because they are forced to, but because they trust the care they receive. Study after study shows that VA outpatient care is as good or better than care in the private sector, especially when it comes to mental health and chronic conditions, because VA doctors treat those every day. That kind of expertise and continuity cannot be replicated by a for-profit network that does not speak the same language.

I represent a district home to tens of thousands of veterans. I spent six years on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee and now serve on the House Appropriations Subcommittee that oversees the VA's budget. I've worked with Republicans and Democrats alike to make sure veterans get the care they've earned. No matter our politics, we've always agreed that, when it comes to caring for those who served, we don't cut corners and we don't break promises. Some of my Republican colleagues say this budget offers veterans more choice. But real choice means being able to choose the VA or the private sector, based on your needs. What this budget does is shift the balance so far toward the private sector that the VA itself may not be there in the coming years for veterans to choose at all. This is not an expansion of choice. It is the slow defunding of the one health care system built specifically for veterans.

It is also part of a broader agenda. This shift mirrors the goals laid out in Project 2025, a think tank's blueprint crafted by authors, including a slew that have joined the Trump administration, that is already reshaping the federal government. One of its aims is to privatize the VA, and this budget quietly moves us one step closer to that outcome. The VA budget bill passed the House of Representatives in late June, and the Senate has yet to act on its version of the bill. I urge my Senate colleagues to safeguard VA health care and reverse this effort to privatize the VA.

We know that VA privatization not only leads to worse care but also costs taxpayers more money. The Congressional Budget Office has found that private-sector care often costs more than equivalent VA care. A Rand study showed that veterans in the private system face longer wait times and less coordinated care. Meanwhile, inside the VA, staff morale is declining, hiring is harder, and burnout is rising. When professionals see funding shift away from their work, they see the writing on the wall.

Veterans deserve care that is consistent and rooted in the reality of military life. They want to walk into a facility where someone understands what they've been through. That is what the VA provides. It is not perfect, but let us commit to protecting and strengthening VA care. If we let this continue, we risk losing it entirely.

I will keep fighting to make sure that does not happen. We should strengthen the VA and make community care available when needed. But we should not quietly turn veterans over to a fragmented system that costs more and delivers less. That is not reform. That is a broken promise. And I will not stand for it.

Mike Levin represents California’s 49th congressional district.