Former Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin, MD, says the nation's veteran healthcare system is "at risk as never before" in an excerpt of his forthcoming book, It Shouldn't Be This Hard to Serve Your Country.
"I am telling my story because, in my opinion, the VA is still in grave danger. Its doctors, its administrators and most importantly our veterans are at risk as never before," Dr. Shulkin wrote in an excerpt published by Time magazine.
Dr. Shulkin served for 13 months in the Trump administration, leaving his post March 29, 2018.
His Time magazine excerpt focuses on his first meeting with then-President-elect Donald Trump in January 2017. Though he did make some progress in his role, Dr. Shulkin says he was "sorely disappointed" by his time in the capital, which he said was often focused on closing parts of the VA.
"Much of my tenure involved various factions pushing me to simply close the VA or at least large parts of it that weren't working well," Dr. Shulkin wrote. "But I didn't see how shutting down a system specifically designed to care for veterans could be in the veterans' best interests."
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