Veterans Issue Emerges as a Major Marker ’Twixt Democrats, GOP
8th February 2016
The matter came up at both of the two most recent presidential debates. It’s in the news not only because of the scandal over long wait times for care at Veterans Administration hospitals and the cover-up of the same scandal, but because the differences between Republicans and Democrats on the issue illuminate a stark ideological divide.
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The difference between Republicans and Democrats on this issue might indeed have something to do with interest group politics. Non-government doctors, health insurance companies, and for-profit hospitals — often, though not exclusively, aligned with Republicans — would surely like a piece of the roughly $60 billion a year that the federal government spends providing veterans health care through dedicated, government owned and operated Veterans Administration health care facilities.
On the Democratic side, the American Federation of Government Employees, a reliable Democratic interest group, represents 220,000 employees at the Veterans Administration. The union doesn’t want those employees to lose their jobs to non-union private sector competitors.
Note that only the Republicans focus on what’s more convenient for the veterans; Democrats are more interested in preserving government power. Sure, they want to ‘fix’ it, but using the same people and structures that broke it in the first place. Winning strategy? I think not.
Veterans health care is not the only issue where Democrats want a service provided by unionized government employees, while Republicans want to give individuals a choice. The same pattern shows up in education, where most Democrats favor traditional public schools while most Republicans are more open to private school vouchers.
Yup, same pattern: Republicans want to allow the consumers to choose, the Democrats want to keep the existing failing government monopoly.