{"id":52352,"date":"2019-05-15T01:26:06","date_gmt":"2019-05-15T01:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/05\/15\/trumps-va-secretary-says-its-not-2009-anymore\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T09:05:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T09:05:42","slug":"trumps-va-secretary-says-its-not-2009-anymore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/opinion\/commentary\/2019\/05\/15\/trumps-va-secretary-says-its-not-2009-anymore\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s VA secretary says its not 2009 anymore"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thanks to President Donald J. Trump\u2019s leadership, the Department of Veterans Affairs has significantly improved service and care to American\u2019s veteran community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite this administration\u2019s new level of excellence, some still debate the effectiveness of the VA \u2014 as if it\u2019s 2009 and the department is beset with the previous administration\u2019s long <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2018\/06\/04\/report-vets-still-face-long-waits-with-va-choice-program\/\" target=\"_blank\">patient wait-times<\/a>, problems with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2017\/03\/22\/va-claims-its-suicide-hotline-problems-are-now-fixed\/\" target=\"_blank\">suicide hotline<\/a> and other now-resolved issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I want to urge these critics to update their information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the last few weeks, for example, one lawmaker said the VA needs reform because veterans are \u201cwaiting 30-60 days for an appointment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yet, the latest studies show VA average wait times are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/Study-VA-hospitals-faster-than-private-facilities-for-some-specialties\/7361547812266\/\" target=_blank>shorter than private sector wait times<\/a> for primary care and certain specialties. On average they are now 18.4 days for new patients, and just 4.3 days for established patients across our entire system.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/04\/30\/brewing-capitol-hill-fight-is-va-broken-or-under-attack\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_19058670148235.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Brewing Capitol Hill fight: Is VA broken or under attack?<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has received harsh criticism from Republican opponents over her comments defending VA health care options.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On national television, I was confronted by a charge from a lawmaker complaining that calls to our Veterans Crisis Line are being sent to voicemail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But that Veterans Crisis Line, which is meant to help Veterans who are at risk of suicide, doesn\u2019t even have voicemail. In the last administration, there were problems with some calls going to backup call centers run by contractors that could sometimes lead to a voicemail. Not on our watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under President Trump\u2019s leadership, that issue has been fixed in its entirety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today, anyone who calls 1-800-273-8255 and presses \u201c1\u201d gets sent to a live person in an average of 8 seconds \u2014 that\u2019s quicker than half of the industry target rate for crisis lines of 20 seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We get an average of more than 1,700 calls to this line each day, and the rate at which calls are sent to a backup center is effectively zero \u2014 only about 1 in every 25,000. And those few that are sent to a backup center are also handled by real people, not voicemails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We have heard vague charges that the VA is \u201crationing medicine.\u201d Not true. That was a policy considered by the last administration, but not by President Trump and his team at the VA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some lawmakers even charged that we are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/ocasio-cortez-defends-va-healthcare-to-veterans-if-it-aint-broke-dont-fix-it\" target=_blank>waging a stealth campaign<\/a> to privatize the department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s an unfair misreading of what we\u2019re doing. We\u2019re putting veterans at the center of their health care decisions. Under legislation that a broad bipartisan majority in Congress supported last year \u2014 the VA MISSION Act \u2014 we\u2019re letting veterans look to outside care when the VA can\u2019t deliver what they need, or if it\u2019s simply too long of a drive to get to a VA clinic.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/veterans\/2018\/05\/23\/massive-veterans-policy-bill-heads-to-trumps-desk-but-results-will-take-time\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"203\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_821518132423.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Massive veterans policy bill heads to Trump\u2019s desk, but results will take time<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Provisions for new community care rules and caregiver stipend expansion won&#039;t happen overnight.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What this president has ordered is simple. Veterans must have the ability to choose the health care providers they trust \u2014 something most Americans already have. That\u2019s because the president has the common sense to recognize that veterans can sometimes benefit from care outside of the VA system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What\u2019s more, President Trump signed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefings-statements\/president-donald-j-trump-issues-national-call-action-empower-veterans-end-national-tragedy-veteran-suicide\/\" target=_blank>an executive order<\/a> calling for a whole-of-government effort to chart a path toward ending veteran suicide, a key issue for our veterans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As a part of President Trump\u2019s efforts to combat the opioid crisis, our VA Opioid Safety Initiative has reduced the number of veterans on addictive opioids by 43,395 in President Trump\u2019s first two years in office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Instead of taking their cues from five-year old news clips or using the VA to make political points about socialized medicine, lawmakers would be better off looking at what our department is actually doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If they do, they\u2019ll see a dramatically improved VA that\u2019s working hand-in-hand with the private sector to accomplish the goal we\u2019re all supposed to be aiming for: taking care of those who have worn the uniform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Robert Wilkie (<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/secwilkie?lang=en\" target=_blank><i>@SecWilkie<\/i><\/a><i>) is secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this op-ed, VA Secretary Robert Wilkie says problems that affected the department have dramatically improved under the Trump administration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":38248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":75,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[75,101,26,18],"tags":[],"coauthors":[4170],"class_list":["post-52352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-daily-news-roundup","category-newsletters","category-opinion"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"EONGKER5SVDR7JVZU2KLPSNGUQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/opinion\/commentary\/2019\/05\/15\/trumps-va-secretary-says-its-not-2009-anymore\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Trump\u2019s VA secretary says its not 2009 anymore - Air Force TImes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In this op-ed, VA Secretary Robert Wilkie says problems that affected the department have dramatically improved under the Trump administration.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump\u2019s VA secretary says its not 2009 anymore\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In this op-ed, VA Secretary Robert Wilkie says problems that affected the department have dramatically improved under the Trump administration.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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