Hours after Dr. David Shulkin was removed as head of the VA, the former secretary began speaking out against a push by some inside the White House to privatize veterans' health care - a move he says would be devastating to the military community.

"There are many political appointees in the VA that believe that we are moving in the wrong direction or weren't moving fast enough toward privatizing the VA," Shulkin told NPR's Morning Edition on Thursday. "I think that it's essential for national security and for the country that we honor our commitment by having a strong VA. I was not against reforming VA, but I was against privatization."

It was for that reason he was ousted, Shulkin wrote in an 837-word opinion piece published by The New York Times Thursday morning. Privatization advocates within the VA “saw me as an obstacle … who had to be removed,” Shulkin wrote.

“That is because I am convinced that privatization is a political issue aimed at rewarding select people and companies with profits, even if it undermines care for veterans,” Shulkin added.

President Donald Trump announced via Twitter Wednesday night he was nominating Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, the White House physician and a MOAA member, to lead the VA. Robert Wilkie, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, will head up the massive veterans' health care agency ahead of Jackson's confirmation.

Shulkin, the only member of Trump's cabinet to come from the Obama administration, has been a vocal opponent of VA privatization. During his February 2017 nomination hearing, he vowed privatization would not happen under his watch. That followed hints then-candidate Trump made on the campaign trail about moving toward privatized health care for veterans.

In the Times op-ed, Shulkin wrote the VA has become “entangled in a brutal power struggle, with some political appointees choosing to promote their agendas instead of what's best for veterans.” Those pushing for privatization, he said, fail to assess how local communities would care for the more than 9 million veterans who currently rely on the VA. The private health care sector is already overtaxed.

“Working with community providers to adequately ensure that veterans' needs are met is a good practice,” Shulkin wrote. “But privatization leading to the dismantling of the department's extensive health care system is a terrible idea.”

MOAA and several other veterans service organizations are strongly opposed to privatizing VA health care. It's an issue that has been discussed for years - and studies show it would end up costing more.

A December 2014 Congressional Budget Office report estimated “the full range of services that VHA provided in 1999 would have cost about 21 percent more if those services had been delivered through the private sector at Medicare's payment rates.”

MOAA was one of the leading organizations involved in the 2016 Commission on Care, an independent assessment that examined VA's hospital care, medical services, and other health care programs. While the commission identified several ways the VA could improve its Choice program, which allows some veterans to seek care in their own communities, it still put the VA at the center of veterans' health care.

Shulkin, who'd been under fire in recent months for questions about his use of government funds during overseas travel and shopping trips, said no health care organization is better equipped to deal with veterans' unique medical needs than the VA. He denied any wrongdoing, and called leading the VA his “greatest professional honor.”