The U.S. navy’s high officer expressed concern Wednesday over a Protection Division plan to chop practically 13,000 navy well being jobs, saying the reductions might go away the medical forces quick throughout wartime.
Testifying as a part of a Home listening to on the DoD price range Wednesday, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley stated the proposed cuts — a component of bigger well being reform initiatives on the DoD — are “OK on a day-to-day foundation” when suppliers are in protected hospital settings, however they may very well be a major problem with troops in hurt’s approach.
Milley raised questions over whether or not there could be a enough variety of medical doctors, nurses, corpsmen and medics to man fight hospitals and combating items.
Learn Subsequent: Soldier Killed in Bear Assault on Alaska Navy Base
“Candidly, I do have considerations,” Milley stated. “[Medical readiness is] a really difficult subset of our total navy personnel challenges, however one, specifically, that causes nice consideration as a result of in time of battle, as everyone knows, there will be vital casualties. In peacetime, you are manning these remedy amenities … however in wartime, they’ll go ahead, and that’s the place the readiness points will present up.”
Congress approved the DoD in 2017 to revamp its medical system, with an purpose to curb the rising prices of offering medical look after 9.6 million service members, navy retirees and their households.
Beneath the plan, the DoD’s Protection Well being Company is to function the well being care system, together with working navy hospitals and clinics and offering care to non-military beneficiaries. Service medical instructions will deal with caring for U.S. troops in DHA amenities and deployment settings, together with fight, and coaching medical personnel for operations.
As a part of the plan, the navy providers are anticipated to chop roughly 12,800 navy well being billets, and the Protection Well being Company will downsize or shut 50 well being amenities.
The reductions have been positioned on maintain through the pandemic, however DHA officers stated earlier this 12 months that they might proceed with the reforms this 12 months.
Some hospitals and clinics have begun feeling the pinch of the reductions, having let positions which are anticipated to be eradicated go unfilled as troops go away the service or depart for an additional obligation station.
Lawmakers whose districts might be affected by the modifications have raised considerations over the reforms, which they are saying already are affecting medical care.
Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., stated in Could 2021 that the employees at Naval Hospital Bremerton had been diminished by greater than 100 billets within the earlier 12 months, inflicting sufferers to “lose entry to high quality care.”
“The realignment just isn’t solely affecting the navy hospital in my area, however is affecting many different districts throughout the nation as properly,” Kilmer stated throughout a listening to on the navy well being system. “When hospital employees go away, both as a result of they retire or transfer to a different set up, their positions are now not being stuffed.”
Following reporting from Navy.com, Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., wrote a letter to Protection Well being Company Director Lt. Gen. Ronald Place on April 6 asking him to look into servicewomen and navy partners going through challenges getting well timed appointments for maternity care within the space surrounding Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, because of a scarcity of suppliers on the naval hospital on base.
“This concern might not be only one that my district is experiencing however could also be systemic to all navy hospitals on account of reforms DHA is main to chop prices throughout the system,” Murphy wrote. “Navy dependents are being pressured to search out personal physicians to look after them. Within the case of Jacksonville, for instance, there might not be sufficient OB/GYNS to look after our expectant moms.”
The Protection Division’s proposed fiscal 2023 price range requires $54 billion for the navy well being system, an almost 8% improve from the beginning of the pandemic.
Throughout the listening to Wednesday, members of the Home Appropriations Protection Subcommittee didn’t touch upon the medical price range request, nor did the consultant who requested the query — Arizona Democrat Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, whose district contains Fort Huachuca and Davis-Monthan Air Drive Base — give Milley any suggestions.
Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., the subcommittee chairwoman, did promise to carry a listening to particularly on the navy well being system.
— Patricia Kime will be reached at Patricia.Kime@Navy.com. Observe her on Twitter @patriciakime
— Rebecca Kheel will be reached at Rebecca.Kheel@Navy.com. Observe her on Twitter @reporterkheel.
Associated: This is the Listing of Navy Clinics That Will No Longer Serve Retirees, Households
© Copyright 2022 Navy.com. All rights reserved. This materials might not be printed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
