Stop the VA From Gutting Veterans Health Care While Our Heroes Wait For Help

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Tens of thousands of VA health care jobs are disappearing while veterans wait for care they were promised and earned through service this country can never repay.

Stop the VA From Gutting Veterans Health Care While Our Heroes Wait For Help

The Department of Veterans Affairs is moving forward with plans to eliminate as many as 35,000 health care positions, including doctors, nurses, and support staff1. While many of these roles are currently unfilled, they exist for a reason. They represent care that veterans need but are already waiting too long to receive2.

The VA says these cuts will not affect care delivery. Yet the health system has already lost roughly 30,000 employees this year through hiring freezes, attrition, and buyouts3. Removing thousands more positions tightens a system that millions of veterans rely on every day.

Unfilled Does Not Mean Unnecessary

The planned reductions would shrink the VA health care workforce by about 10 percent, pushing staffing levels back toward pre-expansion numbers4. This comes despite a sharp increase in demand after expanded eligibility brought more than one million new veterans into the system.

Unfilled positions are not excess. They are appointments that never happen. They are delayed mental health visits, postponed surgeries, and longer drives to distant clinics. Senate oversight leaders warn these cuts will stretch already strained staff thinner, leading to longer wait times and reduced access to care3.

A System Under Strain

Internal documents and reporting show managers have been instructed to cancel thousands of job openings across the Veterans Health Administration, including critical clinical roles5. At the same time, applications to work at the VA have dropped sharply amid nationwide health care worker shortages4.

This combination leaves fewer hands to care for more veterans. Rural communities face some of the greatest risk, where staffing gaps already limit access. Mental health services and specialty care are especially vulnerable when hiring stalls.

Veterans Are Not a Budget Line

Veterans were promised care when they returned home. That promise carries a moral obligation. Many live with injuries, illnesses, and trauma directly tied to their service. Asking them to wait longer or seek care elsewhere shifts the cost of these decisions onto the very people who paid the highest price for this country.

Health care staffing is not abstract. It is the difference between timely care and avoidable suffering. Compassion and responsibility demand action.

Take Action for Veterans’ Care

The Department of Veterans Affairs must restore and rehire essential health care professionals until veterans can be guaranteed timely, accessible, and high-quality care. Veterans kept their promise to this country. It is time to keep ours.

Sign the petition today to demand that VA leadership rehire health care staff and protect veterans’ access to the care they were promised.

More on this issue:

  1. Reuters, CNBC (13 December 2025), “U.S. Veterans Affairs agency plans as many as 35,000 health-care job cuts this month.”
  2. Steve Benen, MS NOW (15 December 2025), “VA eyeing 35,000 health care job cuts, drawing rebuke from veterans’ group.”
  3. U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs (13 December 2025), “Blumenthal Statement on Trump VA's Plan to Eliminate More Than 35,000 Health Care Jobs.”
  4. Sara Dorn, Forbes (13 December 2025), “Veterans Affairs Cutting As Many As 35,000 Jobs By End Of Year, Report Says.”
  5. Wendy Greenlaw, Raw Story (13 December 2025), “Leaked memo reveals VA plan to cut up to 35,000 jobs, raising fears of longer care delays.”

The Petition

To the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Under Secretary for Health, and the Assistant Secretary for Human Resources and Administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs,

We write with deep concern over the decision to reduce and eliminate tens of thousands of health care positions within the VA system. While many of these roles may be listed as unfilled, their absence is felt every day by veterans who wait weeks or months for appointments, travel long distances for care, or struggle to access mental health and specialty services. Staffing shortages are not theoretical. They are personal.

Veterans were promised care when they returned home. That promise did not come with conditions, loopholes, or timelines. It came with a moral obligation rooted in sacrifice. When service members step forward in times of war and crisis, they do so with the understanding that their nation will stand by them when the uniform comes off. Cutting health care positions makes that promise harder to keep.

Health care at the VA is not an optional service. It is a lifeline. Behind every vacant role is a veteran who may wait longer for pain relief, counseling, cancer screenings, or treatment for injuries tied directly to their service. Removing doctors, nurses, and support staff from an already strained system places unbearable pressure on remaining workers and forces veterans to pay the price through delayed or diminished care.

Humanity and compassion must guide decisions about veterans’ health. These are not budget line items or abstract efficiencies. They are people who carried physical and emotional burdens on behalf of this country. Many live with lifelong injuries, trauma, and illnesses connected to their service. Asking them to endure longer waits and fewer options sends a message that their sacrifice is negotiable.

We call on the Department of Veterans Affairs to immediately rehire health care professionals and restore essential clinical positions until veterans can be guaranteed timely, accessible, and high-quality care. This action is necessary to honor commitments made to those who served and to ensure the VA system functions as it was intended.

By reinvesting in staff and care, the VA can strengthen trust, protect veterans’ health, and set a standard of responsibility worthy of their service. These actions will help build a future where veterans are supported, respected, and never forgotten—and where the nation upholds its duty to those who gave so much.

Sincerely,

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