For years, the essential task of reforming the Department of Veterans Affairs has been entrusted to career bureaucrats, most recently David Shulkin. Now, President Donald Trump has fired Shulkin and replaced him with an outsider, and the concern among some in Washington seems to be whether the new VA secretary has the experience to handle the agency.

That worry makes sense inside the Beltway. Out here in the rest of America, where we understand the debt we owe military veterans, it does not.

Shulkin got the ax in part because of ethics concerns, one example of which was taking his wife on a junket to Europe, at taxpayers’ expense. Reportedly, there was considerable opposition to him within the VA.

He will be replaced by Navy Adm. Ronny Jackson, who is Trump’s personal physician. Jackson is familiar to some as the doctor who fielded some inane questions from reporters about the president’s annual physical examination.

An official of one veterans organization wondered aloud Wednesday whether Jackson is “qualified to run such a massive agency, a $200 million bureaucracy.”

Senators, who must confirm Trump’s appointment, should give Jackson a chance. It may be that the VA needs an outsider who, for a change, demands results rather than bureaucratic excuses and promises.