Policy Document Series · Issue 27 of 35 · April 2026
The Promise Is Binding. Fund the VA. End Veteran Suicide. No Privatization.
The VA is the largest integrated healthcare system in the United States — 170 medical centers, 9.1 million enrolled veterans — and it outperforms the private sector on quality, cost, and outcomes when adequately resourced. Yet DOGE has cut 40,000+ VA employees in a single year while community care spending has quadrupled to $31 billion, producing worse outcomes at $1,741 higher cost per patient. 6,398 veterans died by suicide in 2023. The promise is binding. It must be kept.
The VA is the largest integrated healthcare system in the United States — 170 medical centers, 9.1 million enrolled veterans. A 2025 Stanford study found VA care produces 46% lower 28-day mortality at 21% lower cost compared to identical veterans sent to private emergency departments. It is not broken. It is under deliberate assault.
The Common Good Party's position: the government asked these people to serve. It promised to take care of them when they came home. That promise is binding, non-negotiable, and enforceable. The DOGE initiative has cut 40,000+ VA employees in a single year while awarding a near-$1 trillion private community care contract — producing worse outcomes at higher cost. Community care spending has quadrupled from $8 billion to $31 billion, a third of the VHA budget. 6,398 veterans died by suicide in 2023 — 17.5 per day. 61% were not receiving VA care. VA care is protective. The crisis is failing to reach veterans outside the system.
This platform establishes eight pillars: (1) defend the VA from privatization and restore full mandatory funding; (2) declare veteran suicide a national emergency and implement universal mental health eligibility; (3) triple mental health staffing and expand evidence-based and psychedelic-assisted therapy; (4) protect the PACT Act and establish automatic presumption for future toxic exposures; (5) end veteran homelessness through HUD-VASH as an entitlement; (6) fulfill the original GI Bill promise with full cost coverage; (7) support military families, caregivers, and the transition to civilian life; and (8) reform the discharge system to ensure universal VA access.
The VA pioneered the implantable pacemaker, the nicotine patch, and electronic health records. Its $868 million research mission has produced discoveries that benefit all Americans. Dismantling it to enrich private healthcare corporations is not reform. It is the breach of a contract incurred the moment a person raised their hand and swore an oath.
The crisis facing veterans is not a VA failure — it is a failure of political will, a staffing emergency created by chronic underfunding and acute DOGE destruction, and a suicide epidemic that kills 17.5 veterans every day. The VA outperforms when funded. The problem is that it has not been.
The homelessness crisis: 32,882 veterans experienced homelessness on a single night in 2024. Women veterans are 3–4 times more likely to become homeless than non-veteran women. Veterans with OTH discharges — excluded from most VA services — are disproportionately represented among homeless and justice-involved veterans. Meanwhile, veterans with OTH discharges for PTSD, TBI, or MST are denied the very care that caused the conditions that led to their discharge.
The political project targeting the VA did not begin with DOGE. It was built over decades through deliberate underfunding, manufactured crises, and a lobbying campaign designed to transfer VA's budget to private healthcare corporations. The playbook: underfund, expand alternatives, declare failure, outsource.
1944
The GI Bill — Promise Made, Unequally Kept
The Servicemen's Readjustment Act educated 8 million veterans and helped create the American middle class. It was also one of the most racially discriminatory laws of the 20th century. Of 3,329 VA-backed mortgages in Mississippi in 1947, only 2 went to Black veterans. The GI Bill's discriminatory administration is a structural cause of the racial wealth gap — a debt that has not been repaid.
1970s–1990s
Agent Orange — The First Denial, Delay, Deceive Cycle
Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange fought for 40 years to have service-connected conditions recognized. The government that created the exposure forced sick and dying veterans to prove the connection while the VA contested their claims. The Agent Orange Act (1991) finally established presumptive service connection — but only after decades of veterans denied and deceased. The burn pit crisis repeated the same cycle.
2014
Veterans Choice Act — The Privatization Playbook Begins
The Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act responded to genuine wait time scandals by expanding community care eligibility — routing more veterans to private providers. Sold as "giving veterans choice," it began transferring VA's budget to private healthcare corporations while producing worse outcomes at higher cost. Community care spending began its rise from $8 billion toward $31 billion.
2018
MISSION Act — Expanding the Extraction
The VA MISSION Act further liberalized community care eligibility, accelerating private-sector routing. The Koch-funded Concerned Veterans for America lobbied heavily for this expansion. Each community care expansion created a funding crisis that was then used to argue the VA was broken — a self-fulfilling privatization prophecy. The GAO has demanded maximum wait time standards since 2013. None have been set.
2022
The PACT Act — Hard-Won Justice
The Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act established presumptive service connection for conditions linked to burn pit and toxic exposures. It required Jon Stewart shaming 41 Republican senators on national television while dying veterans camped on Capitol steps to pass. As of 2025: 1,991,320 claims approved, 73.4% approval rate, $195 billion distributed. The Toxic Exposures Fund made this mandatory spending — the model the entire VA healthcare budget should follow.
2025–2026
DOGE — The Controlled Demolition
The Trump administration's DOGE initiative eliminated 40,000+ VA positions, canceled PTSD research, cancer care, pharmacy safety, and suicide prevention contracts, and initiated VISN consolidation from 18 to 5 networks without a published implementation plan — while simultaneously awarding a near-$1 trillion private community care contract. These are not efficiency measures. They are the deliberate dismantlement of an institution that serves 9.1 million veterans, executed without Congressional authorization.
International models prove that universal access and proactive outreach work. The key lesson: the bureaucratic barrier between a veteran in crisis and mental health care kills people. Eliminate the barrier, and outcomes improve dramatically.
| Country | Key Program | What It Achieves | Lesson for the U.S. |
|---|---|---|---|
| AustraliaWhite Card | Universal mental health coverage for any veteran who served, regardless of service connection. Treat first, adjudicate later. | Eliminates the bureaucratic barrier to care access — no service-connection requirement, no copay, no waiting for approval while in crisis. | The model for CGP's universal VA mental health eligibility. If you served, you are covered. Period. |
| United KingdomCareer Transition Partnership (CTP) | Personalized career tracks, skills translation, employer matching, and 12 months of post-separation support. | 88% employment within 6 months of separation — far exceeding U.S. TAP outcomes. 35% of U.S. service members don't even meet TAP counseling timeline requirements. | The model for replacing TAP. Begin 18 months before separation. Personalized, not a one-week class. |
| IsraelRehabilitation Division | Integrated rehabilitation model; active hyperbaric oxygen therapy research for treatment-resistant PTSD and TBI. | Demonstrates that TBI-focused neurological care and PTSD research can be institutionally integrated into veteran care systems. | Hyperbaric oxygen therapy for treatment-resistant PTSD: fund VA trials and, if validated, adopt at scale. |
| DenmarkLongitudinal Screening Research | Multi-point post-deployment mental health screening — validated research showing single screening misses late-onset PTSD. | Mandatory multi-point screening model proven superior to one-time checks. Veterans develop PTSD months or years after returning home. | Mandatory screening at 3, 12, and 24 months post-separation. Opt-out, not opt-in, enrollment in VA care. |
The common thread: Every country that achieves better veteran mental health outcomes does so through universal access — not through gatekeeping, service-connection requirements, or bureaucratic adjudication processes that force suicidal veterans to prove eligibility before receiving care. Australia's White Card is the model. The U.S. forces veterans to navigate a bureaucratic process while they are in crisis. That is not a system design flaw. It is a choice — and this platform makes a different one.
Eight pillars address the full scope of the obligation owed to those who served: defending the VA, ending the suicide emergency, expanding mental health care, protecting toxic exposure benefits, ending veteran homelessness, fulfilling the GI Bill, supporting military families, and ensuring universal access regardless of discharge status.
Anti-privatization statute. Enact a federal law prohibiting the privatization, vouchering, or outsourcing of core VA healthcare delivery functions. No VA facility may be closed without Congressional authorization and a demonstrated community care alternative that equals VA quality at equivalent or lower cost — a standard the evidence shows private care consistently fails to meet.
Mandatory VA healthcare funding. VA healthcare funding must be made mandatory — not subject to annual appropriations fights. The PACT Act's Toxic Exposures Fund established this model; extend it to all VA healthcare. No veteran's care depends on whether Congress passes a continuing resolution on time.
Reverse all DOGE cuts. Restore every position eliminated through the 2025–2026 DOGE reduction — 3,000 nurses, 1,000 physicians, 700 social workers — and all canceled contracts for PTSD research, cancer care, pharmacy safety, and suicide prevention. Halt and independently review the VISN consolidation from 18 to 5 networks.
Declare veteran suicide a national emergency. 6,398 veterans died by suicide in 2023 — 17.5 per day. Deploy federal emergency resources: surge funding, interagency coordination, and executive authority to bypass bureaucratic barriers to care access.
Universal VA mental health eligibility. Any veteran, any mental health condition, no service-connection requirement, no copay. Modeled on Australia's White Card: if you served, you are covered for mental health care. Treat first, adjudicate later. The current system forces suicidal veterans into a bureaucratic process while they are in crisis.
Triple VA mental health staffing. Hire to eliminate the 57% facility shortage rate within 3 years. No veteran waits more than 14 days for a mental health appointment — 7 days for urgent needs. 15% of Iraq/Afghanistan veterans have current PTSD; 29% have lifetime prevalence. VA mental health demand is up 40% in a decade while psychologist staffing grew only 24%.
The PACT Act is settled law. 1,991,320 claims approved, 73.4% approval rate, $195 billion distributed. No rollback, no budget sequestration, no reduction in presumptive conditions. The Toxic Exposures Fund remains mandatory spending — insulated from annual appropriations. It required Jon Stewart shaming 41 Republican senators on national television while dying veterans camped on Capitol steps. The system should never require a celebrity advocate to honor a promise to those who served.
Automatic presumption framework for future exposures. When DOD documents that service members were exposed to hazardous substances, a rebuttable presumption of service connection attaches to any condition scientifically linked to that exposure within 20 years. The burden of proof shifts to the government — not the veteran. No more 40-year Agent Orange repeats.
HUD-VASH as an entitlement. HUD-VASH produces a proven 1-for-1 reduction in veteran homelessness per voucher distributed. Without the program, veteran homelessness would have reached 130,000 by 2017. Every eligible homeless veteran receives a HUD-VASH voucher — no waitlist, no lottery. Fund to full demand. (Cross-reference Issue 3: Housing.)
Functional zero as a binding federal target. 32,882 veterans experienced homelessness on a single night in 2024 — down 55.6% since 2010, a genuine policy success driven by HUD-VASH and Housing First. But 32,882 is still 32,882 too many. Every community with a VA medical center must achieve functional zero veteran homelessness within 5 years.
Full cost at public institutions. No veteran attending a public college or university pays any tuition, fees, or room and board not covered by the GI Bill. If the GI Bill cap falls short, the federal government covers the gap. The 1944 GI Bill educated 8 million veterans and created the American middle class — but of 3,329 VA-backed mortgages in Mississippi in 1947, only 2 went to Black veterans. The racial reckoning this requires is addressed in Pillar 6's equity provisions. (Cross-reference Issue 22: Racial Justice.)
Military spouse employment. Military spouse unemployment is ~20% — five times the national average. A PCS move increases unemployment odds by 136%. Federal interstate licensing portability for all military spouses: any professional license valid in one state is automatically valid in the state of PCS relocation. Fund spouse career development programs at $500 million/year.
Automatic DADT discharge upgrade. An estimated 13,000+ veterans were discharged under Don't Ask, Don't Tell; only 1,375 have had benefits restored. Every veteran discharged under DADT receives an automatic upgrade to Honorable with full retroactive benefits. No application required. No bureaucratic review. The policy was wrong. The correction must be complete.
Presumptive OTH upgrade for service-connected conditions. Veterans with OTH discharges who have documented PTSD, TBI, MST, or substance abuse — conditions likely caused or aggravated by service — receive a presumptive discharge upgrade. The burden of proof shifts to the government to demonstrate the discharge was unrelated to these conditions.
The VA's FY2025 budget was $369.3 billion — the largest in VA history. The argument that we cannot afford to care for veterans is contradicted by the evidence that private care costs more, not less. Community care is already costing $1,741 more per patient than equivalent VA care. Funding the VA fully is not an expenditure. It is a cost avoidance measure.
The core principle: every dollar saved through privatization is a dollar that produces worse care at higher cost when the evidence is examined. The VA's integrated system produces economies of scale, care coordination, and research capacity that no fragmented private-sector alternative can replicate. Funding the VA is not charity — it is honoring a contractual obligation incurred the moment a person raised their hand and swore an oath.
"The VA is broken and private care gives veterans real choice."
The VA is not broken — it is underfunded and under political assault. A 2025 Stanford study of 400,000 dual-eligible veterans found those treated at VA had 46% lower 28-day mortality at 21% lower cost compared to identical veterans sent to private emergency departments. Three successive systematic reviews conclude VA care is as good as or better than private care. 90% of veterans who receive VA care trust it. Community care already exists — and it costs $1,741 more per patient with worse outcomes. Vouchers do not give veterans choice; they give private healthcare corporations access to VA's budget while leaving the most complex cases to VA. Real choice requires a fully staffed VA that offers timely, high-quality care.
"We can't afford to expand VA services when the deficit is this large."
The VA's FY2025 budget is $369.3 billion. Private care costs more — every dollar spent on community care over the 25% cap produces worse outcomes at higher cost. The HUD-VASH entitlement costs a fraction of what chronic homelessness costs in emergency services. Mandatory mental health funding eliminates the more expensive crisis interventions that result from delayed care. A veteran who cannot access a mental health appointment and ends up in an ER crisis visit costs multiples of the appointment. The question is not whether we can afford the VA — it is whether we can afford the consequences of dismantling it. We cannot.
"Mandatory funding removes Congressional accountability and fiscal discipline."
Discretionary funding does not create accountability — it creates political hostage-taking. Veterans' healthcare should not depend on whether Congress can pass a budget on time. The PACT Act's Toxic Exposures Fund is mandatory spending, and it has not reduced accountability — it has protected care for veterans with burn pit exposures from being used as a bargaining chip in budget negotiations. Mandatory funding means veterans can count on the care the government promised. That is not a lack of accountability. It is the fulfillment of an obligation.
"DOGE cuts were just eliminating waste and administrative bloat."
The DOGE cuts eliminated 3,000 nurses, 1,000 physicians, 700 social workers, and canceled contracts for PTSD research, cancer care, pharmacy safety, and suicide prevention. These are not administrative positions — they are clinical and research staff who provide direct care to veterans. The VA already has chronic clinical staffing shortages documented by the Inspector General every year since 2014. The DOGE cuts took a chronic crisis and made it acute, while simultaneously awarding a near-$1 trillion private community care contract. The purpose is not efficiency. It is to manufacture the failure that justifies privatization.
"Veteran suicide is a mental health crisis, not a VA access crisis — it can't be solved by expanding VA."
61% of veterans who died by suicide in 2023 were not receiving VA care. Veterans with PTSD in VA care have seen a 31.6% decline in suicide rates since 2001. VA care is protective. The crisis is not within the VA — it is the 61% who cannot access it. The barriers include service-connection requirements for mental health care, geographic distance, wait times exceeding 200 days, discharge status restrictions, and the stigma created by bureaucratic gatekeeping. This platform eliminates those barriers. Universal mental health eligibility, mandatory longitudinal screening, and opt-out default enrollment are evidence-based responses to a documented access failure.
| #1 | Healthcare / Medicare for All Universal single-payer as the floor beneath VA's specialized system. VA remains the gold standard for veterans — the integrated model Medicare for All is modeled on. |
| #3 | Housing Housing First mandate; HUD-VASH voucher entitlement; social housing framework for homeless veterans. Functional zero target requires housing supply to meet demand. |
| #4 | Education & Student Debt Free public university as baseline; GI Bill as supplemental benefit above that floor. Credential translation and licensing portability tied to education access. |
| #5 | Immigration Immigrant veterans and noncitizen service members — equal benefits and pathway to citizenship. Non-citizen veterans have died for this country. They are owed the same obligations as every other veteran. |
| #9 | Defense Spending Pentagon audit requirement; DOD accountability for toxic exposures and burn pit documentation. DOD creates the exposures — DOD has an affirmative duty to document them in real time. |
| #12 | Criminal Justice Veterans Treatment Courts as criminal justice diversion achieve 14% recidivism vs. 23–46% for standard courts. Justice-involved veteran services: VA healthcare, housing, and employment as diversion from incarceration. |
| #13 | Labor VA employee labor protections; anti-union attack prohibition; public sector collective bargaining rights. The DOGE attacks on VA staffing are also attacks on labor rights. |
| #19 | Drug Policy Medical cannabis authorization for VA physicians; psychedelic-assisted therapy expansion; harm reduction framework. VA should lead this research — not avoid it. |
| #22 | Racial Justice GI Bill racial discrimination as a structural cause of the wealth gap. Black veteran reparative measures. Of 3,329 VA-backed mortgages in Mississippi in 1947, only 2 went to Black veterans. This debt has not been repaid. |
| #25 | Infrastructure / Broadband Rural broadband for VA telehealth — 55% of VA mental health visits are now virtual. Rural veteran access is contingent on rural broadband. Climate-resilient VA infrastructure. |
"The government asked these people to serve. It promised to take care of them when they came home. That promise is binding, non-negotiable, and enforceable."— The Common Good Party
Sources & References