Clinton opposes privatizing health care for veterans

DERRY, N.H. -- Hillary Rodham Clinton outlined steps to improve the Department of Veterans Affairs yesterday, casting herself as a protector against proposals to privatize the sprawling health care system for those who have served in the military.

In a pre-Veterans Day event, the Democratic presidential candidate said she would seek to improve veterans' health care, modernize veterans' benefits system and address an unwieldy bureaucracy that was exposed in a scandal involving chronic delays for those seeking medical care or to have their claims processed.

"These problems are serious, systemic and unacceptable. They need to be fixed," she said at a Veterans of Foreign Wars hall. She added: "Privatization is a betrayal, plain and simple, and I am not going to let it happen."

Clinton's town hall meeting included questions about how she might tackle the threat posed by Islamic State militants if she becomes commander in chief. She said she does not currently support a declaration of war against the Islamic State, given the diffuse nature of the group and the potential costs.

"If you have a declaration of war you better have a budget that backs it up," she said.

Clinton's plan for veterans would seek fundamental changes to ensure access to high-quality health care in a timely fashion and address the backlog in claims. She said that within the first 30 days of taking office she would convene the defense secretary and VA secretary for regular meetings and there would be "zero tolerance" for abuses and delays within the system.

Clinton's campaign has pointed to a plan of the conservative Concerned Veterans for America to restructure the Veterans Health Administration into a nonprofit corporation. Republicans, saying she has overstated privatization efforts, called her plan hypocrisy, noting it would allow the government to contract with the private sector for certain services when the VA couldn't provide timely access to care.