Workers at Reno’s Veterans Affairs Medical Center protested proposed cuts to the VA that they said would harm California and Nevada veterans. Photograph Source: Bob Conrad / THIS IS RENO, May 30, 2025

The new leadership of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in Washington has taken a lot of heat lately from VA patients, their care-givers, and members of Congress opposed to cuts in jobs and services for veterans.

VA Secretary Doug Collins, the right-wing Air Force Reserve colonel now running a public health care system serving nine million former service members, has tried to allay their concerns.

According to Collins, even if more than 80,000 VA jobs are eliminated this year (as projected by his chief of staff), veterans will have no trouble accessing doctors, nurses, or therapists elsewhere.

That’s because they will get faster referrals to a network of equally qualified private sector providers, who now number 1.7 million nationwide and receive more than $30 billion in annual reimbursements for treating eligible veterans outside the VA.

Thanks to President Trump, Collins says, “VA is providing veterans with more health care choices…while making it even easier for veterans to get their health care when and where it’s most convenient for them.”

Reno Reality Check

On Friday, May 30, members of American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 2152 challenged this rosy scenario at a noon-time rally in Reno that brought together VA patients and their families, local labor allies, and political activists from Indivisible Northern Nevada.

As retired Army officer........

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