VA: The Human Cost of War (2017)

This hour long documentary film explores the history of the department of Veterans Affairs — from the troubled beginnings of the Veterans Bureau of the 1920s, to the modern VA system. The film chronicles, in depth and often wrenching detail, the workings of this crucial but at times beleaguered American institution: exploring what it does and how it functions, its vast size and critical importance, its history and provenance — how and why it came into existence, how and why it has changed over time, how it has come to be broken in critical ways in recent generations and how it may be reformed going forward.

Interviewees include: Robert McDonald, former Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs; Dr. David Shulkin, Secretary of the Department of Veterans Afffairs; Anu Bhagwati, Captain Marine Corps, Ret.; Colin Moore, Director of the Public Policy Center, University of Hawaii; Former Congressman Jeff Miller, Representative Beto O’Rourke; Representative Seth Moulton; David Philipps, Pulitzer Prize winning National Correspondent for the New York Times; Linda Bilmes, Daniel Patrick Moynihan Senior Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard University; Paul Rieckhoff, Founder and CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America; and Scott Davis, VA Whistleblower; And families and veterans including, Howard and Jean Somers, Aimee Sherrod, Carlos and Norma Villasenor.

Production Stills

Agency Delays $765 Million in Spending for U.S. Veterans' Care

Agency Delays $765 Million in Spending for U.S. Veterans' Care

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) seal hangs on the facade at the headquarters in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Friday, May 10, 2013. The department's funding has jumped more than 40 percent to about $140 billion this year, compared with fiscal 2009, a boost to help the agency cope with a surge of new veterans returning home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images