To avoid possible VA hospital shutdowns and further delays in veterans’ care, Congress has closed a budget gap at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Specifically, the provision authorizes the VA to use $3.35 billion from the Choice Program to pay for non-VA care from May 1 to October. 1, 2015, and requires reports every 14 days on how these funds are used and for what programs. It’s unclear whether the House will take up that version when lawmakers return from recess after Labor Day.
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But McDonald said use of the Choice Card program has grown slowly while outside care programs have increased dramatically, leading to the budget problems.
Thompson’s bill will allow veterans who have supplemental health care coverage and also receive Veterans Administration (VA) care for a service-connected disability to enroll or participate in a Health Savings Account (HSA). VA officials must submit plans to do that by November.
“We’re in this situation, quite frankly, because of gross ineptitude in planning that can only be characterized as malpractice in management”, said Sen.
Department officials said they didn’t know the extent of the shortfall until the start of the summer, but have warned for the last year that inflexible budget accounts could create such fiscal woes. “Congress can not be expected to continue to bail out VA because of mismanagement”. Veterans should not have to pay the price for the administrative mistakes made by others.
VA officials told Congress that they would be forced to begin closing hospitals, possibly including the VA medical center in North Las Vegas, unless they were given flexibility to cover the shortfall. The Hire More Heroes Act allows employees to stay under the 100 employee threshold if they hire veterans who are already covered through TRICARE or the VA, particularly of value in Alaska, which at 77,000 has the highest concentration (17 percent) of veterans in the nation. Currently, under IRS regulations, veterans and their families are prohibited from making and/or receiving contributions to a HSA for three months after receiving health care services through the Veterans VA for a service-connected disability.
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Congressional Democrats and the White House have publicly complained about the motivation behind the law but also offered limited objections, calling it a reasonable update to health insurance rules. “Therefore, we call on President Obama to put aside his earlier threat to veto the VA Accountability Act of 2015 and sign it immediately if it passes in the Senate”.
