Breaking Another Promise to Veterans
The Choice Program was supposed to
make seeking medical care outside the VA system easier. It hasn’t.
By Pete Hegseth in the Wall Street Journal
Last August President Obama signed
the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act, the most significant reform
to the Department of Veterans Affairs in decades. Seven months later, the
Veterans Choice Program, a core part of the law designed to help veterans see
private doctors, is floundering. Yet instead of fixing the many problems, the
Obama administration is using them as an excuse to divert funding from the
program.
After the VA’s waiting-list scandal
broke early last year, with reports that at least 19 veterans died at VA
hospitals in 2010-11 due to delays in diagnosis and treatment, there was
bipartisan consensus that change was needed to address the VA’s deep
bureaucratic dysfunction. In addition to more accountability for VA facilities
and staff, Congress wanted expanded private health-care options for eligible
veterans.
Particularly promising was the new
Veterans Choice Program. It was designed to give veterans who lack timely or
convenient access to VA health care the ability to seek compensated care from a
private provider. Since November, 8.6 million Veterans Choice cards have been
mailed out, but according to the VA only 27,000 veterans have made appointments
for private medical care using the cards.
The VA fails to mention that it
missed several deadlines for mailing the cards and issued confusing and overly
stringent criteria for using them. Cardholders must call a toll-free number and
follow prompts before speaking to a representative, which in some cases has
taken more than an hour. To qualify, they must verify there is at least a
30-day wait for treatment at a VA medical facility or live at least 40 miles
(as the crow flies) from a VA medical facility.
A recent Veterans of Foreign Wars survey on the Veterans Choice Program found that “80 percent of
the 1,068 survey participants who reported that they either lived 40 miles from
a VA medical facility or could not be seen by VA within 30 days said they were
not afforded the choice to receive non-VA care.” Almost all the more than 2,500
respondents were interested in getting private care. Those lucky enough to meet
the criteria and use the program were generally offered only a narrow set of
options.
A generous interpretation is that the
VA is having difficulty standing up a new program. A less generous
interpretation is that the VA bureaucracy is intentionally erecting barriers to
protect its monopoly on veterans’ health care. The recent statements and
actions of VA leaders lend credence to this more cynical, but also more
realistic, interpretation.
Helen Tierney, assistant secretary
for management at Veterans Affairs, told the Military Times newspaper last month that the VA has “a
strong indication that this [private care] is not veterans’ preferred choice”
and they “would prefer to remain in the VA” for their care. Ms. Tierney—a White
House appointee in 2014 with little previous health-care or veterans
experience—offered no supporting evidence for these sweeping assertions.
Now comes the Obama administration’s
fiscal year 2016 budget proposal, issued in early February. Deep in the
document is a note that the administration proposed to “reallocate a portion of
Veterans Choice Program funding to support essential investments in VA system
priorities in a fiscally-responsible, budget-neutral manner.”
The program was initially funded at
a relatively modest $10 billion, and it’s still unclear how much the VA seeks
to reallocate. But the fact that less than a year into the program the
administration is already talking it down and hoping to shift funding raises
serious red flags among choice advocates. Imagine if the same thing had been
done to the president’s “signature” health-care law.
What do veterans actually want? In
addition to the VFW survey, a nationwide poll commissioned recently by my organization, Concerned
Veterans for America, found that 90% of veterans favor reforms to VA health
care, with 88% saying it is “extremely” or “very important” to offer expanded
choice. Seventy-seven percent would support choice even if it means paying a
little more out of pocket. These numbers are incontrovertible; they are a
mandate for change and choice.
“I’m as frustrated as you all are,”
Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald
told the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee on Feb. 26 as they discussed the
Choice Program’s low enrollment numbers, even as he expressed a desire to
divert some of the funding to VA hospitals and clinics. Members of Congress
have questioned the VA’s commitment to the program. As Sen. Jerry Moran (R.,
Kan.) said in last month’s committee meeting, the VA’s request to direct money
from the Choice Program “demonstrates a lack of interest in this program.”
President Obama, in his remarks on signing
the VA bill last summer, hailed the reforms as evidence that “our country keeps
the promises that we’ve made to everybody who signs up to serve.” Secretary
McDonald has also said he is committed to the program’s success. Sincere words
from both men, no doubt. But now they must live up to those words.
Veterans chose to serve their
country. Why can’t they choose their doctor? Is that too much to ask?
Mr. Hegseth is the CEO of Concerned
Veterans for America and a Fox News contributor. A U.S. Army infantry veteran,
he served tours in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay.
No comments:
Post a Comment