Beto O’Rourke Unveils Plan
to Improve Care For Veterans On June 24, presidential contender
Beto O’Rourke proposed a four-part
plan to improve veteran care. The first part would be the ending
of “forever wars” and the creation
of trust funds for all future wars. These funds would be generated
from a new "war tax" which would
be paid by non-military taxpayers. The second part of O’Rourke’s plan
would be to improve the current Veterans
Affairs (VA) health care system. This includes filling over 45,000
vacant positions currently at the VA. The third part would be to ensure all
veterans are provided with equal treatment
regardless of sex, race or sexual orientation. O’Rourke plans to enforce this by requiring
the VA to cover the full spectrum of women’s
health care, including reproductive health, as well as offer care that is inclusive of
all troops, regardless of their sexual
orientations and gender identities. Finally, O’Rourke would expand transition
assistance programs to help veterans
successfully return to civilian life. This includes offering “reverse boot camps”
as well as directing government resources
to prevent veteran homelessness.