WASHINGTON (AP) – The Latest on the Senate confirmation hearing for David Shulkin, the nominee to head the Department of Veterans Affairs (all times EST):
3:25 p.m.
President Donald Trump’s choice to lead the troubled Veterans Affairs Department says he supports having some private sector help to improve medical care for millions of veterans. But David Shulkin cautions it could take years to fix problems such as long wait times.
Shulkin is testifying before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.
But Shulkin says he opposes full privatization. He urges a more integrated VA network in which veterans could seek outside care only in coordination with the VA.
Currently about 30 percent of veterans receive care outside the VA under a 2-year-old Choice Program passed by Congress. Shulkin says he wants to build off that program, noting that a large bulk of veterans receive a combination of VA and private care.
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3 a.m.
President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Veterans Affairs Department says wide-scale firings or dismantling the beleaguered agency isn’t the way to meet the health care needs of millions of veterans.
Trump tapped David Shulkin, the VA’s current top health official, to be VA secretary after a presidential campaign in which the Republican described the agency as “probably the most incompetently run.”
As Shulkin prepares to face a Senate panel Wednesday, the 57-year-old physician is pledging more modest changes.
In prepared testimony, Shulkin says there will be better access and expanded care options. But he adds: “The Department of Veterans Affairs will not be privatized under my watch.”
Shulkin is in line to be the lone ex-Obama administration official serving in Trump’s Cabinet.