You don't often see picket lines in Sioux Falls but there was one on Tuesday in the central part of the city dealing with health care.

Specifically care for veterans and a potential change to that system that doesn't sit well with employees and some veterans.

It's not a change that would be happening soon...

"We're out here just to inform people about the potential of this happening over the next 20 years." But it's a change the people holding these pickets do not want to see happen...because they say if it does, thousands in Sioux Falls will be effected. "They would look at all the VA's and they would determine which ones need to be closed first. Probably starting with the smaller ones and working their way up." Maxine Schaaf is a nurse at the Royal Johnson Veterans Affairs hospital in Sioux Falls.

She says 1,000 people work at this facility that sees nearly 3,000 veterans a year seeking medical care.

A Congressional committee investigating reports of poor V-A care at hospitals nationwide is considering an idea to privatize the entire V-A healthcare system.

"We know we've had problems. Those problems are fixable in any large system. We can improve on those. But that can't happen if it is out of existence." Mark Young also works at the V-A Hospital as a therapist and is himself a Vietnam veteran.

He acknowledges changes can be made to improve the system but believes the system itself doesn't have to be erased...telling us vets received specialized care they could not receive if the V-A was privatized. "I had four appointments in one morning. How could I do that if I had to go to my primary care, labs and then a couple of specialty clinics."

In addition to the Sioux Falls V-A hospital itself....the hospital also operates five regional clinics that would be closed if this privatization plan happens.

Those clinics are in Watertown, Aberdeen, Spirit Lake, Sioux City and Wagner.