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It Shouldn't Be This Hard to Serve Your Country
- Our Broken Government and the Plight of Veterans
- Narrated by: Daniel Thomas May, David Shulkin
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
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It Shouldn't Be This Hard to Serve Your Country
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Summary
The former VA secretary describes his fight to save health care from politics and money - and how it was ultimately derailed by a small group of unelected officials with influence in the Trump White House.
Known in health care circles for his ability to fix ailing hospitals, Dr. David Shulkin was originally brought into government by President Obama, in an attempt to save the broken Department of Veterans Affairs. When President Trump made him VA secretary, Dr. Shulkin was as shocked as anyone.
Yet this surprise was trivial compared to what Shulkin encountered as the VA secretary: a team of political appointees devoted to stopping anyone - including the secretary himself - who stood in the way of privatizing the organization and implementing their agenda. In this uninhibited memoir, Shulkin opens up about why the government has long struggled to get good medical care to military veterans and the plan he had for how to address these problems. This is a book about the commitment we make to the people who risk their lives for our country, how and why we've failed to honor it, and why the new administration may be taking us in the wrong direction.
Critic reviews
"From the moment David Shulkin was appointed secretary of the VA, Trump's corporate henchmen put a target on his back to achieve their aim of shutting down the VA hospital system. Shulkin, the highest-ranking person to serve in both the Obama and Trump administrations, provides play-by-play detail of his tumultuous tenure and spells out the ongoing threats to the VA. A harrowing and important story." (Andy Slavitt, former acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services)
"A painful-to-swallow story of a political environment gone toxic. And as Dr. Shulkin points out, the casualty isn't the loss of another government servant-it's our veterans." (General (ret.) Stanley McChrystal)
"This is a very important book. I hope Americans who care about our veterans will take the time to read it. The title of the book says it all, but what's inside is a compelling story - a cautionary tale for all citizens who care about recruiting talented people to serve our government." (Bob Kerrey, former senator, former governor of Nebraska, and recipient of the Medal of Honor)