'Massively disrespectful': Hegseth buried by veterans for plans to cut VA benefits

One of the primary targets for Defense Secretary-designate Pete Hegseth is reportedly healthcare benefits for veterans provided by the Department of Veterans' Affairs (VA). But that plan is proving controversial with some veterans and their advocates.

According to a Saturday report in CNN, President-elect Donald Trump's pick to oversee the Pentagon has long since been an advocate of privatizing VA health services under the guise of "having unfettered access to private healthcare." CNN reported that in 2018, then-President Trump had Hegseth on speakerphone while then-VA Secretary Dr. David Shulkin was listening, having long viewed Hegseth as an unofficial advisor for military-related matters.

"We want to have full choice where veterans can go wherever they want for care," Shulkin recalled Hegseth saying in his memoir.

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CNN noted that "critics" of that approach have likened the "unfettered access" term to a "Trojan horse" that really means "privatizing and ultimately dismantling the VA system altogether." And Shulkin pushed back on Hegseth's calls for privatization, telling him at the time: "Your version of choice would cost billions more per year, bankrupting the system."

"How can we responsibly pursue this? Unfortunately, he didn’t want to engage at the level of budget and other aspects of day-to-day reality," Shulkin wrote. "He seemed to prefer his sound bites on television."

Amy McGrath — a Democrat and retired Marine pilot who unsuccessfully challenged Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in 2020 — told the network she hadn't seen an outcry for privatization among veterans, and pointed out that the profit motive of the private healthcare industry was different than the VA's motive of simply providing care for all veterans regardless of cost.

"Health care is expensive, no matter how you go about it,” McGrath said. “And I fear, and I think a lot of people fear, you will lose quality of care, because now you’re switching over veteran care to the private sector, the private sector has an incentive to make money… health insurance makes money by denying care. Is that what we want?”

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If confirmed as Defense Secretary, Hegseth would oversee the Military Health System, whereas the VA would be administered by VA Secretary-designate Doug Collins (who has also been supportive of privatization). However, Hegseth has lamented that veterans' advocacy groups "encourage veterans to apply for every government benefit they can ever get after they leave the service." In a 2019 episode of Fox & Friends, Hegseth suggested veterans had become overly "dependent" on the federal government.

“To me, the ethos of service is, I served my country because I love my country and I’m gonna come home and start the next chapter of my life," he said. "If I’ve got a chronic condition – mental, physical, otherwise – the government better be there for me, but otherwise I don’t want to be dependent on that.”

Former Rep. Max Rose (D-N.Y.) — an Army Ranger and Purple Heart recipient who served nearly five years in active duty service — called Hegseth's comments about veterans' benefits "massively disrespectful" to those trusted “to go to war, to protect the homeland, defend our rights, and our way of life – and then we think they will come home and be an abusers of health care services?”

Click here to read CNN's report in full.