Montana’s congressional delegation is AWOL when it comes to Montana veterans’ healthcare. Senators Daines and Sheehy and Congressmen Zinke and Downing have refused to meet with Montana veterans to answer two simple questions: What are you doing to help veterans, and do you favor privatizing the VA healthcare system?
Our “No Montana Veteran Left Behind” organization members have met radio silence over the last three months after repeatedly seeking to discuss veteran healthcare issues with each member of the Montana delegation. There are 85,000 veterans in Montana as of 2024. There are 24,678 men and women who receive disability compensation (MT VA 2024 Biennial Report). According to the 2025 VA OIG (Office of Inspector General) Report, 94% of the 1,380 VA healthcare facilities nationwide reported severe shortages in medical officers, with a 79% severe shortage of nurses and 58% shortage of psychologists. And our Fort Harrison VA facility suffers from similar significant shortages of medical staff.
So, why the silence, Senators and Congressmen? Perhaps because the goal in Congress is to divert VA resources to other Trump Administration programs or line the pockets of the private healthcare industry? Whatever the reason, privatization would surely deprive veterans of the healthcare they need from a system uniquely constructed to provide integrated care to meet their individual needs.
The VA is a nationwide healthcare system designed specifically for veterans – men and women – who have sacrificed and proudly served this great nation in uniform. There is no question that VA Health care is more efficient and effective than the generalized care the private sector can offer. The VA leads the world in veteran-specialized integrated medical programs that meet the complex of healthcare needs specific to veterans. These areas of care include Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) treatment, traumatic brain injury (TBI) care, burn injury rehabilitation, amputation and prosthetics issues, military sexual trauma, toxic exposure care and polytrauma rehab. The private “for-profit” hospitals simply do not have these integrated programs at scale, and certainly not in Montana. The private healthcare sector is a fragmented system of care that costs more and frankly delivers less than the VA can offer.
The Montana delegation, three of whom are veterans, remained silent during 2025 when the VA fired or laid off nearly 30,000 employees, on top of the 37,000 mandated unfilled VA healthcare positions carried over from 2024. As a result, nearly 70,000 VA healthcare positions have disappeared. Many of the positions lost were occupied by frontline healthcare providers including the doctors, psychologists and nurses who are trained to address the medical needs unique to veteran service and were there to meet with patients to address their problems.
The Veteran Health Care Policy Institute has reported that as of 2025 we have a significant shortage of health professionals in Montana. In 51 of our 56 counties, there is a shortage of health professionals and an alarming shortage of mental health professionals. The Institute reports that Montana’s veteran suicide rate ranks far above the national average. Hospitals in rural Montana are already in jeopardy as 31 (56%) have lost services, 18 (33%) are at risk, and 5 (9%) are at immediate risk of closure. And this is BEFORE the possible privatization of veteran healthcare by referring vets to our rural hospitals. Moving Montana veterans into a private healthcare system that is wholly ill-equipped to absorb – much less adequately treat them, would be a catastrophe.
So, gentlemen, why won’t you meet with us to address these critical concerns? Tell us what you are doing to help Montana veterans and tell us point-blank whether you support privatizing veterans’ health care under these dire circumstances. We need to hear from you. Our veterans deserve to know.
Respectfully, representing No Montana Veteran Left Behind, veterans Jerry Wells, Mike Cotter, Diane Carlson Evans, Karrie Fairbrother, Dennis Taylor, Fritz Gillespie, Elton Ringsak, Brett Heitshusen and Chip Clawson
Jerry Wells is an Army Viet Nam veteran and a leader of No Montana Veteran Left Behind, an advocacy group for the Montana VA and the veterans they serve.