Pick for VA chief may be against privatization

WASHINGTON — Ronny Jackson, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, pledged privately to a Democratic senator on Tuesday that he would oppose efforts to privatize veterans’ health care.

As Jackson begins courtesy meetings this week in the Senate ahead of his April 25 confirmation hearing, he is not only battling the perception that he lacks sufficient management experience but trying to assuage the concerns of Democratic senators who oppose outsourcing more health care to the possible detriment of the VA. Several Democrats are seeking commitments from Jackson, a Navy admiral who serves as the White House physician, that he, too, would oppose such an effort.

Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, said Jackson offered that commitment to him in a one-on-one meeting Tuesday morning. Tester urged Jackson to explain that position to Trump, which, Tester said, Jackson had yet to do.

Trump nominated Jackson for the Cabinet post late last month after the dismissal of David Shulkin, whose tenure as VA secretary came to an unceremonious end amid heated internal battles. Shulkin said he clashed Jackson with conservative forces in the administration who favor aggressively expanding veterans’ access to medical services outside the VA system, at taxpayers’ expense. He and a host of veterans advocacy groups have said the funding required to do that should be used to improve VA.

VA is the federal government’s second-largest bureaucracy, with more than 360,000 employees and a budget of $186 billion.

Asked for a response to Tester’s characterization of Jackson’s comments, a White House spokesman Tuesday pointed to a statement last month from principal deputy press secretary Raj Shah that said the administration is not in talks about directing more of veterans’ care to private doctors.