In the first forum of the presidential race to address military concerns exclusively, both candidates pledged to fix problems at the Veterans Affairs Department that prevent veterans from getting prompt, proper medical care.
The forum provided an opportunity for the candidates to discuss issues ranging from military personnel and national security to veterans concerns and their qualifications for leading the armed forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paul Rieckhoff, IAVA founder and CEO, called it a “a conversation that\u2019s long overdue.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“There still wasn\u2019t enough specifics, like, who is going to be your VA secretary? Are you going to keep Secretary Bob McDonald as some veterans organizations have asked? What are you going to do about the VA\u2019s budget? We needed about three hours,” Reickhoff told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow after the forum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Topics raised by moderator Matt Lauer, host of NBC’s “The Today Show,” and veterans in the audience included Clinton\u2019s private email server, Trump\u2019s temperament, plans for defeating ISIS, the Iraq nuclear deal, Russia and national security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When it came to veterans, health care, suicide and military sexual assault topped the list of concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The forum format didn\u2019t allow candidates to spar face to face, but Clinton charged that Trump supports an agenda to privatize VA while Trump refuted the accusation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I never said take the VA private. I would never do that \u2014 too much respect for our people. But I do believe if you are waiting in line six, seven days, you should never be there. You should go out and see the doctor,” Trump said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I\u2019m going to have a meeting every week in the Oval Office because we need to have a better fit between being mustered out and getting into the VA system,” Clinton said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Both candidates also discussed veterans suicide, which numbered 20 deaths a day in 2014, according to VA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clinton said she has a mental health plan that includes a section to address veterans treatment, reduce the stigma of seeking mental health care and and improve addiction recovery services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump called the number of veterans who die by suicide nearly impossible to comprehend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Twenty to 22 are killing themselves. A lot of it is because they are in pain and can\u2019t see a doctor. We are going to speed up the process and we are going to create a great mental health division. [Veterans] need help. They need tremendous help,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rieckhoff said the forum set a precedent he hopes it will become an election tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The country has never stopped to talk about the duties and challenges of being a commander in chief,” he said “… We accomplished that goal.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump pledge to improve VA services<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":106598,"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":12,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3244],"class_list":["post-73209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"IOESI46VHFCMDLLSO5TXIZBM4M","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/2016\/09\/08\/on-veterans-health-care-trump-and-clinton-still-thin-on-specifics\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n