United States Sen. John McCain of Arizona said in Tucson on Thursday that he will push to expand a program that allows veterans to get health care from private providers to avoid long waits at Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals.
During a town-hall meeting at Universal Avionics Systems Corp., McCain said he will keep advocating for reforms to the VA health-care system, noting that veterans are still receiving poor care, two years after a scandal over some vets dying while waiting months for VA care.
βVeterans are still not getting the care they deserve β¦ . The system is broken and needs to be fixed,β the Phoenix Republican told about 100 employees at the south-side avionics manufacturer.
McCain said that, despite some reforms, on a weekly basis his office is working on 500 to 1,000 cases where Arizona veterans have been unable to get needed VA health care.
Part of the solution, McCain said, is to widen eligibility for the VA Choice Card, which some veterans can now use to obtain health care from private providers if they live more than 40 miles from a VA facility or have been waiting more than 30 days for VA care.
The program was part of 2014 legislation to address the VA care scandal that originated in Phoenix, but the VA has been criticized for failing to get veterans to sign up and of hamstringing the program with red tape.
McCain last year introduced legislation to scrap the 40-mile limit and make the Choice Card available to all vets, and is pushing the plan at town halls as he runs for re-election this year.
McCain said the VA and some veterans service groups have resisted the idea of expanding the Choice Card program, βwhich has been disappointing to me.β
The VA has failed to hold staffers accountable for the Phoenix problems, he said, contending that only one employee has been fired for the systemic shortfalls in VA care partly because of appeals by federal employees unions.
In response to similar criticisms, the VA has noted that several employees took early retirement following the Phoenix care scandal.
The agency has recently moved forward with the process of firing three senior officials who were removed from their positions at the Phoenix hospital in the wake of the wait-time scandal.
In a wide-ranging speech followed by a question session, McCain touched on several other issues:
Presidential race
McCain reiterated that he is not endorsing any presidential candidate. He said both Republican front-runner Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders are tapping into frustration among voters who feel the rich are getting richer while America has become weaker.
βWeβre in very interesting times, politically,β he said.
supreme court vacancy
McCain said he has no plans to meet with Judge Merrick Garland, President Obamaβs nominee to fill the vacancy left by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.
He also said he opposes any action on a nominee until the next president takes office, noting that Vice President Joe Biden argued the same position as a Senate Democrat in 1992.
βI think thatβs a little hypocrisy there on the part of my Democratic friends,β he said.
Fight against ISIS
McCain reiterated his call to put a force of 10,000 American troops on the ground to fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, along with an allied force of 90,000 to defeat ISIS.
He cited terrorist attacks in the U.S. and Europe and evidence of sophisticated terrorist planning of attacks outside of the Middle East.
βWeβre either going to fight them there, or weβre going to fight them here,β he said.
Defense in Arizona
Arizona plays a key role in maintaining Americaβs military might, McCain said, citing installations including Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and Fort Huachuca that use the nationβs top live-bomb training grounds, and weapons made by Raytheon Missile Systems.
βDefense is a big, big part of our economy,β he said, citing his so-far successful fight to save D-Mβs A-10 Thunderbolt II ground-attack jets from retirement and efforts to grow things such as drone operations at Fort Huachuca.
βRaytheon is going to have a lot more business, because theyβre firing off a lot more of their products,β said McCain, who is chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
