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Season 3, Episode 59

Efforts to privatize VA healthcare leave veterans in the cold

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Guest Name:


Phil Glover

Guest Website:


www.afge.org

Guest Social Media:


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Supportive Documents:


Phil Glover, District 3 National Vice President of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and spoke about the effects of the Mission Act, which was passed under the Trump Administration, and why efforts to privatize the Veterans Administration (VA) medical system have left some veterans out in the cold.

Glover also discussed recently released recommendations from the VA to close hundreds of VA clinics and at least three medical centers in an effort to privatize veterans’ healthcare. The recommendations were based on out-dated, pre-COVID information and do not reflect the current need for veteran care in America, he said.

Though the recommendations have not yet been approved, many VA healthcare managers are already making cuts in an effort to be proactive, Glover noted. The resulting privatization of VA healthcare is causing veterans to wait in long lines or miss required care, he added.

Glover then talked about the turmoil that occurred in the federal government during the transition between the Trump and Biden administrations. It took months to get boards and agencies staffed with Biden appointees, and many continue to have Trump appointees, he said. This has made it difficult for Biden to pursue his pro-labor agenda, he added.

Listen to the entire episode to learn more about these topics:


America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.

America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, Alliance for American Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes-IBT, Boyd Watterson, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, Mechanical Insulators Labor Management Cooperative Trust, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, Melwood, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of North America, The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.

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