Michael Cannon, director of health policy studies at Cato Institute, has said President-elect Donald Trump should push for the privatization of the Department of Veterans Affairs and collaborate with Congress in order to build a system of veterans benefits.
Cannon wrote in a Forbes opinion piece published Nov. 11 that Trump should call for an increase in military pay in an effort to allow service personnel to buy from private insurance firms a set of life, health and disability benefits at “actuarially fair rates.â€
He also recommended the federal government to privatize the Veterans Health Administration and “issue shares to active-duty personnel and veterans based on length of service or other criteria.â€
Such a move would result in a pay increase among service members and establishment of a “massive wealth transfer†to veterans and active-duty soldiers, Cannon wrote.
“The federal government should give current veterans vouchers to purchase insurance and medical care from the insurers and health systems of their choice, including the new veteran-owned and -operated systems,†he added.
