Trump's VA cuts will leave Indiana veterans with slower, costlier health care
I have also seen the immense challenges they face, including staffing shortages, long wait times and an ever-growing demand for care. Now, with the decision to slash 80,000 jobs from the VA, those challenges will worsen. Indiana's 400,000 veterans will pay the price.
The Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center in Indianapolis, the state's largest VA facility, is expected to lose hundreds of essential workers, including doctors, nurses and mental health professionals.
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Veterans in Indiana already wait an average of 42 days for a primary care appointment. With these cuts, those delays will increase dramatically, leaving many veterans without timely care.
The situation is even worse for those in rural areas, where the VA's community-based outpatient clinics in Terre Haute, Bloomington and South Bend are facing possible staff reductions or closings. This means veterans will have to travel farther for care, assuming they can access it at all.
The impact of these cuts cannot be overstated. Longer wait times for medical appointments will force veterans to delay critical care, leading to worsening health outcomes. Slashing mental health services will only exacerbate Indiana's already high veteran suicide rate, stripping away support from those who need it most. Reduced access to specialty care will leave veterans with chronic conditions struggling to receive proper treatment.
Let's call this what it is — many will be pushed toward for-profit health care, which is often more expensive and less effective than the care provided by the VA. It is a direct attack on those who have risked their lives for this country.
Leaders claim these cuts are about efficiency, but the reality is far different. The VA is a lifeline for millions of veterans. The system has consistently outperformed private hospitals in veteran care, yet these cuts aim to dismantle it in favor of privatization.
This is about shifting resources away from veterans — and into the pockets of corporations that see health care as a business rather than a duty.
This is a crisis, not a budget issue. Veterans upheld their promise to serve this nation, and now they are being abandoned. Indiana lawmakers must demand transparency about how many jobs will be lost in our state and how these cuts will impact veteran care.
Our veterans deserve better.
Dr. Raja Ramaswamy is a first-generation Indian American, an Indianapolis-based physician and the author of "You Are the New Prescription."
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana VA wait times could get longer under budget cuts | Opinion
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