Michigan Healthcare

The VA, America’s largest integrated health system, turns 96 years old

Michigan Public | By Stateside Staff

Published August 8, 2017 at 5:14 PM EDT

The VA, which provides healthcare to millions of American veterans, turns 96 this week.

Stateside's conversation with Dr. Howard Markel, a medical historian with the University of Michigan and a PBS contributor.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is the country's largest integrated health system. Nearly nine million of America’s veterans get medical care from the VA.

Ninety-six years ago today, the precursor to what we now know as the VA began with a stroke of President Warren G. Harding’s pen.

Dr. Howard Markel, a medical historian with the University of Michigan and a PBS contributor, joined Stateside today to talk about the history of the VA’s inception, which began just a few years after World War I.

Listen above.(Subscribe to the Stateside podcast oniTunes,Google Play, or with thisRSS link)