‘Mad as hell’ NY Rep blasts Biden admin’s plan to shutter NYC VA hospitals: That’s no way to treat our vets

The Biden administration wants to close two New York City Veterans Administration (VA) hospitals in Brooklyn and Manhattan and at least one NY Representative is “mad as hell” about it.

In response to the plan, which would close the crucial hospitals in favor of a “strategic collaboration” to treat vets with private medical providers, Republican Staten Island Rep. Nicole Malliotakis told The New York Post, “Me and the veterans I represent are mad as hell, and we will not allow the Biden administration to close these facilities.”

While the proposal would not affect the VA medical center in The Bronx, it would reduce the services offered at the Staten Island VA clinic and “consolidate its services with the ‘New Jersey market,'” The Post reports.

Services in Brooklyn would be discontinued and another provider would be brought in to handle inpatient medical and surgical needs as well as emergency department services. A new “urgent care center” with another provider would replace the Manhattan VA hospital, and the Brooklyn facility’s research program would be moved to Manhattan.

In a Tuesday letter to VA Secretary Denis McDonough, Malliotakis stated, “This is unacceptable.”

According to Malliotakis, the plan to privatize and consolidate would “cripple” the Staten Island clinic and force vets in need of anything other than mental health care to head for New Jersey.

“That’s no way to treat some of the 138,000 vets in the New York City area who’ve fought for the U.S.,” Malliotakis stated.

She asked that McDonough ditch the ill-conceived plan so that “New York veterans who fought for our great nation do not have to travel out of state to receive the needed treatment that they are entitled to.”

According to the VA, its recommendations will not result in any immediate changes. Under the law, any changes would still need to be reviewed by the Asset Infrastructure Review Commission.

In a statement, the VA said, “In the near term, the recommendations will have no major impact. Any potential changes to our infrastructure are years away — and in some cases more than ten years away.”

Still, the mere suggestion of anything that would make life more difficult for our nation’s vets is enough to anger citizens on Twitter.

Melissa Fine

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