NU636 Unit 1 DQ 2: Veteran healthcare policy and the VA
Discuss how state and federal policies are or are not addressing Veterans' healthcare needs, and state whether you advocate for privatisation of the VA healthcare system and why, with citations and references in APA format.
Editorial process
Last reviewed · August 14, 2026
The policy record before the opinion
Build the policy half before you form the opinion half, because the opinion is only as good as the record behind it. The federal architecture is where most of the action is: eligibility and priority groups determine who gets care at all, successive access reforms created community care pathways after the wait-time failures of the mid-2010s, and later legislation expanded coverage for toxic exposure and for mental health. Describe what each was meant to fix and what the evidence says about whether it did. States do less but not nothing: state veterans homes, state departments of veterans affairs, scope-of-practice rules that decide who can staff a clinic, Medicaid eligibility, and behavioural health programmes. Name where the gaps persist — rural access, mental health workforce, care coordination between VA and community providers, and the veterans who are ineligible or unenrolled — because the question asks explicitly whether policies are or are not addressing the need.
The privatisation question invites your opinion and the rubric still expects citations, so treat it as a position paper rather than a preference. Set out the case each way. Community care can shorten waits, improve geographic access for rural veterans and offer choice; against that, the VA's integrated system produces measurable advantages in coordinated care, in specialised expertise on polytrauma, prosthetics, post-traumatic stress and toxic exposure that community providers largely lack, and in a single record across a lifetime, and outsourcing can cost more per episode while fragmenting exactly the coordination those conditions need. State a position, name the strongest objection to it, and say what evidence would change your mind. Note where your own scope of practice comes in — advanced practice nurses have full practice authority within the VA regardless of state law, which is directly relevant to the workforce argument and to this course's regulatory objective.
Likely learning objectives
Inferred from the brief — check these against your own rubric.
- 01Describe the federal policy architecture governing Veterans' health care.
- 02Identify the state-level policies that affect Veterans' access.
- 03Evaluate whether policy responses have closed the gaps they targeted.
- 04Argue a position on VA privatisation from evidence rather than preference.
- 05Relate regulatory scope of practice to the workforce argument.
Read the full question
Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.
Course-wide instructions that accompany this question
ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS Discussion Questions (DQ) Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words. Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source. NU636 Unit 1 DQ 2 One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words. I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses. Weekly Participation Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately. In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies. Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work). Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week. APA Format and Writing Quality Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required). Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation. I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition. Use of Direct Quotes I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly. As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content. It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source. LopesWrite Policy For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me. Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes. Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own? Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score. Late Policy The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies. Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances. If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect. I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension. As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading. Communication Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class. Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.
Turn the brief into deliverables
- 01How federal policy addresses Veterans' healthcare needs.
- 02How state policy does or does not.
- 03The gaps that persist despite both.
- 04Your position on privatisation of the VA healthcare system.
- 05The reasoning and evidence behind that position.
- 06Citations and references in APA format.
Federal, state, then your position
Who the population is
Establish size, demographics and the conditions that distinguish this population.
Federal policy
Cover eligibility, access reform, community care and recent expansions.
State policy
Cover state homes, licensure, Medicaid and behavioural health programmes.
What is still not addressed
Name rural access, workforce, coordination and the unenrolled.
The case for and against privatisation
Set out choice and access against coordination and specialised expertise.
Your position
State it, meet the strongest objection, and say what would change your mind.
Primary sources on VA access and outcomes
Recommended databases
- US Department of Veterans Affairs
- Congressional Research Service reports
- Government Accountability Office reports
- PubMed
- Health Affairs
Search sequence
- 1.List the major federal statutes affecting VA care and what each targeted.
- 2.Find an oversight report assessing whether access reform worked.
- 3.Check your own state's department of veterans affairs for its programmes.
- 4.Look for comparative outcome data between VA and community care.
- 5.Note the VA's national scope-of-practice rule for advanced practice nurses.
Reference shortlist
These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.
Nothing here is cleared for citation until you have read it.
- 01
Home - Veterans Health Administration
US Department of Veterans Affairs · 2025
The primary source for eligibility, enrolment priority groups and the services actually offered.
- 02
Social Determinants of Health
Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion · 2024
Housing, employment and access factors that shape Veterans' outcomes beyond clinical care.
- 03
Nursing Practice Act
StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2023
State scope-of-practice law, against which the VA's national practice authority is the contrast.
- 04
Healthy People 2030
Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion · 2024
National objectives for mental health and access, useful as the benchmark for judging whether policy worked.
Review before submission
Common mistakes
- Answering only at federal level when the question names state policy too.
- Describing legislation without saying whether it achieved what it targeted.
- Treating the opinion question as exempt from the citation requirement.
- Arguing one side of privatisation without stating the strongest objection.
- Ignoring the VA's specialised expertise, which is the core of the case against.
- Omitting the scope-of-practice dimension the course objective points at.
Submission checklist
- Federal and state policy are addressed separately.
- At least one persisting gap is named with evidence.
- A clear position on privatisation is stated.
- The strongest counter-argument is acknowledged.
- Claims about access, cost or outcomes carry citations.
- References are in APA format.
Use this guide to plan and review your own work. Follow your institution's rules and read our academic-integrity policy.
Written by
Aaron Bishop
MA, Education
assignment interpretation and research-methods coaching across disciplines
Aaron leads the EssayCrackers editorial desk. He works on how assignment briefs are read — what a rubric is actually asking for, and where students most often answer a different question than the one set.
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Dr. Nathan Cole
PhD, Rhetoric & Composition
Argumentation and thesis development
Nathan teaches first-year composition and directs a university writing center. He reviews EssayCrackers guides for argumentative soundness and citation accuracy.