In the earliest iterations of federal care for aging and disabled former service members, officials saw achieving a balance between the desire for efficiency and the need to provide American veterans with comfort and good care as not only possible, but essential. When the quest for efficiency upended this balance in the past, previous administrations have listened to veterans who objected. If the Trump Administration begins to focus on maximizing efficiency at any cost, and ignores warnings about how it weakens care, they will be ignoring a formula that has governed since the 19th century.
