Photo by Lucas Alexander

James Jones is a 54-year-old disabled Army veteran. After four years of active duty and four in the reserves, Jones says he has a “multitude” of health care problems.

“There’s PTSD, a right arm injury, my right shoulder, chronic rhinitis from toxic exposure during the Gulf War, dental,” he says. That’s why he depends on the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health system, the nation’s largest.

Jones, a federal employee from Watauga County, North Carolina, is also one of the 25 percent of vets who live in rural areas. And care for these rural veterans is now at serious risk as Republicans push to cut rural health care and privatize the VA.

The VA MISSION Act of 2018, passed under President Trump’s first term, established a parallel private network, the Veterans Community Care Program (VCCP). The VCCP now sees 60 percent of VA patients and eats up over $30 billion a year that could go to hiring more staff and improving the VA’s aging infrastructure.

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