Kochs’ Anti-Veterans Group Back To Denying It Wants To Privatize Veterans’ Health Care

February 19, 2016

Concerned Veterans for America, Charles and David Koch’s veterans front group that works against the interests of veterans, is back to denying its plans to privatize veterans’ health care.

CVA has in the past openly advocated policies that would, by their own admission, privatize the Veterans Affairs healthcare system — proposals that the group itself has described as making VA health care “private” and “premium support”-based. If that’s not enough evidence, less than two weeks ago, a CNN fact-check confirmed not only the group’s Koch ties, but also it’s privatization goals.

But it’s the Kochs we’re talking about — and Charles and David have never let facts get in the way of their selfish agenda. In a Wednesday op-ed for the Hill, CVA VP Dan Caldwell angrily denounced those who have accused the group of privatization advocacy, accusing them of having “denigrated and misrepresented [his] organization” by “saying we in effect advocated privatizing the VA.” Of course, in that same op-ed, Caldwell also himself argued that the VA healthcare system should be transitioned into “a government-chartered nonprofit corporation.”

There’s a reason CVA’s nervous about being too honest about their plans to having the VA healthcare system privatized: The majority of veterans are opposed to having their healthcare system privatized, with nearly two-thirds of veterans opposing “plans to replace VA health care with a voucher system.”

That’s a problem for CVA because — even though they do, in fact, advocate privatization — being too honest about their plans would expose their political front-group that prioritizes the Kochs’ selfish interests over those of veterans for the sham that it is.

Paid for by American Bridge 21st Century Foundation