WASHINGTON, July 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- This week, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) launched a nationwide radio ad campaign raising serious concerns about Senator McCain's commitment to veterans' health care. In addition to the radio ads, AFGE, which represents employees in the Department of Veterans Affairs, launched a Web site, www.fundtheva.com, and a series of YouTube ads featuring union veterans voicing their concerns about McCain's controversial veterans health care platform.
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"As one of the most prominent veterans in the country and the ranking minority member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator McCain is now in a position to do something that will have a long range impact on the health care of his fellow veterans," says AFGE President John Gage. "We feel strongly that the proposals made by McCain, one of the nation's most high profile veterans, are misguided and unjust."
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Sen. McCain has stated that he plans to offer veterans' vouchers to receive care at private, for-profit health care facilities - a move that would be would be tantamount to dismantling the current Veterans Health Administration (VHA), which is widely regarded as the nation's foremost medical health care system.
Both the radio ad and the YouTube ads feature veterans expressing concerns about the McCain voucher plan calling it a means of privatizing veterans' health care and undermining the solvency of the VA. In the radio ad, AFGE member Phil Glover says that McCain's plan, "would be the end of the VA - the end of the promise and the start of a huge boondoggle for big corporations."
"While the VA faces challenges, many of its short falls can be directly attributed to a lack of funding," said J. David Cox, AFGE National Secretary-Treasurer who is also a former VA nurse. "We urge all members of Congress to support full mandatory funding for the VA to ensure that vouchers would not cripple the system by diverting funding away form veterans health care."
For more information visit www.fundtheva.com and to view the YouTube videos visit http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ks_YEMcV4QM&feature=user.
AFGE is the largest federal employee union representing 600,000 workers in the federal government and the government of the District of Columbia, including 160,000 employees in the Department of Veterans of Affairs.
SOURCE American Federation of Government Employees
