Research - Rehabilitation - Re-Employment

Sgt. Shaft 09/24/2002

Dear Sgt. Shaft: 
The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (VFW) strongly supports H.R. 5250, The Veterans Health Care Funding Guarantee Act of 2002. This legislation, introduced by the Chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, Christopher Smith, and its Ranking Democratic Member, Lane Evans, would dramatically and beneficially alter the way that veterans' health care is funded. For the first time, VA health care would be covered by mandatory spending. 

Clearly, the current system is failing veterans. Access to the VA health care system is controlled by the amount of money available, not the demand for service. Unfortunately, years of flat-lined budgets and increasing demand have dug a hole so deep that VA has been unable to escape despite the relatively large increases in funding of the last few years. 

Funding shortfalls have led to rationing of health care through reduced services, lengthy delays for appointments, higher copayments and in some cases, veterans being turned away from hospitals. We have heard from thousands of veterans across the country who are having difficulty with appointments and the level of service they are receiving. VA's own statistics support this as they found, incredibly, over 300,000 sick and disabled veterans have been waiting for health care appointments for over six months. 

Chairman Smith's and Ranking Member Evans' legislation would finally provide the proper level of funding by basing it on the demand on the system. If more veterans choose VA as their health care provider, then VA receives more funding, ending the need for health care rationing. Mandatory funding would assure that veterans receive the timely care they justly deserve and would eliminate diminished access as the current primary method of cost control. 

I strongly urge all Members of Congress to support H.R. 5250 and to do everything possible to ensure its success just as the VFW and many other organizations are doing. 

Sincerely, 
RAYMOND C. SISK
Commander-in-Chief

Dear Commander,
I couldn’t agree with you more. As you know, health care benefits for veterans got off on the right track two years ago, when the Congress passed TRICARE for Life. This was a program intended to guarantee lifelong health care for military retirees and their families. This legislation assured hundreds of thousands of military families free health care services sponsored entirely by the government. H.R. 5250 is essential if we are to extend the same kind of guarantee to the remainder of America's veterans. As you pointed out veterans are increasingly being turned away at VA medical centers. This legislation would go a long way to assure veterans their continued access to the VA health care system. 

The Sarge is also watching a companion bill in the Senate where U.S. Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) recently introduced the Veterans Health Care Funding Guarantee Act (S 2903). This legislation would establish mandatory funding for Department of Veterans Affairs health care, taking it out of the year-to-year appropriations process. The legislation is supported by the VFW, Disabled American Veterans, as well as many other veterans' organizations.

I concur with Senator Johnson when he says that “{t}he VA health care system is on the brink of crisis. While the number of veterans in the United States has decreased over the years, the number of veterans utilizing the VA health care system has increased exponentially. This is due in large part to the availability of Community-Based Outpatient Clinics and the prescription drug benefits available through the VA. The VA estimates that it will see an additional 1.2 million patients over the next fiscal year. This would bring the number of veterans served through the VA up to 4.9 million--a 31 percent increase in one year”.

The bill would change the funding of the VA health care system from discretionary to mandatory spending by establishing a base funding year and calculating the average cost of a veteran using the VA's health care system. This would be indexed annually for inflation. The advantage of making veterans health spending mandatory is that the yearly appropriations battle of trying to find additional resources to meet the VA's needs will end. Instead, a formula based on the cost of serving the eligible veterans who participate in the VA health care system would be used to set funding.

"While the VA has become the health care system of choice for many veterans, the system is simply not equipped to handle this kind of patient influx at the current funding level. According to the VA, 300,000 veterans are waiting for appointments--half of them will end up waiting six months or more. It is my hope that my colleagues will join me in examining new ways to provide our veterans with the high-quality health care they deserve, said Johnson. 

For the past several years Congress has provided funding for veterans health care in excess of the VA's request. Two years ago, Johnson led the fight for a $1.4 billion increase in veterans health care funding over the Administration's initial request. Last year, he succeeded in adding an additional $1.1 billion. During Senate consideration of the Fiscal Year 2002 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill, Johnson worked with members of the Appropriations Committee to ensure that $417 million in additional funding for veterans health care was included in the bill. "Given the current problems within the VA health care system, I was disappointed that the President has refused to spend $275 million of the emergency funding that was earmarked for veterans health care. According the Independent Budget--which is prepared by the Disabled American Veterans, AMVETS, the Paralyzed Veterans of America, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars--the Administration's Fiscal Year 2003 request for VA health care is $1.7 billion less than what is needed to fully fund our veterans' health care needs," Johnson said. 

Send letters to Sgt. Shaft, c/o John Fales, P.O. Box 65900, Washington, D.C. 20035-5900; fax to 301-622-3330; call 202-462-4430 or email sgtshaft@bavf.org.

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