Donald Trump Is Getting It Right on Veterans Care

Since President Trump took office, speculation has raged that he intends to privatize major portions of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ sprawling health care system. Last week, the administration took its most definitive step in that direction by releasing rules allowing veterans who live more than a 30-minute drive from a V.A. health care facility to choose to receive private care instead.

Many Democrats and most veterans organizations have opposed such policies, arguing that diverting funds from V.A. hospitals and clinics will damage care for needy veterans. I am anything but a supporter of Mr. Trump, his horrendous treatment of women and his anti-government agenda. But as a former Marine Corps officer who has needed quality health care, I am thrilled by this move.

I’m a survivor of a sexual assault that happened years before I joined the military. But that experience left less of a mark on me than the years of fierce misogyny and sexual harassment I experienced in the Marines. This has shaped much of my perspective as a V.A. patient, and unfortunately I am not alone.

In the last 15 years, I’ve received care from at least seven V.A. medical centers in the Northeast. I also spent several years as a national advocate for women veterans, and for women and men who experienced sexual assault or harassment in uniform. I’ve learned that far too many veterans who have experienced gender-based discrimination or sexual violence in the military also suffer immeasurably by being forced to use V.A. facilities.

On many occasions I have experienced inappropriate behavior by V.A. personnel because I am a woman. I still get mistaken for a wife or caretaker of a male veteran. I still have to remind medical staff to close curtains so I do not have to be subjected to the gaze of male patients — and so they don’t have to be subjected to mine. And just a few months ago, I reported sexual harassment by a male doctor who I felt was inappropriately personal with me in an initial clinical assessment. He then not only walked in on an acupuncture appointment while I was in my underwear but stayed and stared awhile until, aghast, I told him that he needed to leave.