Editor’s Note: VA hospitals are not so easily replaced

I’ve always told my children that nothing is forever. However, I didn’t expect the news that the Biden administration has plans to close the Veterans Affairs hospitals in Manhattan and Brooklyn, as reported by the New York Post last week. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis told the Post she and the veterans she represents on Staten Island were “mad as hell” over the plan. The plan also calls for reduced services at a VA clinic on Staten Island, while a hospital in the Bronx would not be affected.

Under the Biden plan, another provider would step in with inpatient medical and surgical services, as well as emergency department services in Brooklyn. Manhattan would get an urgent care facility for veterans, also run by another provider.

The VA, despite its flaws, consistently provides for those who served in active military, naval or air service and didn’t receive a dishonorable discharge. My mother was a doctor at the Manhattan VA for 18 years, and at her funeral in 1999, almost two dozen veterans came to pay their respects. I didn’t expect them or know them, but it was comforting knowing how grateful they were to her, other VA medical personnel and the vital services they got from the institution.

VA staff aren’t working for some random health care provider. They exclusively see and treat the same veterans – including some year after year – as part of a promise to provide them lifetime health care for their sacrifices. It’s a commitment that cannot be compromised, and one which a contracted provider may not fully understand or embrace.

Can you blame anyone for being mad as hell?