Trump signs private care expansion for VA

The Trump administration’s push to expand veterans’ health care into the private sector took another step forward with the signing of a $51 billion plan that would allow veterans more freedom to turn to the private sector for health care in the name of shortening wait times and bettering care.

The Associated Press reports that the legislation, signed Wednesday, would also expand a VA caregivers program to cover families of veterans of all eras. But, intended to give veterans access to private care after they have experienced poor care or long waits at VA facilities, the bill is also anticipated to boost costs, which could leave the VA in for budget shortfalls next year.

Related: 5 best, 5 worst cities for veterans

It’s also not necessarily the answer to veterans’ prayers, the AP says in another report, particularly in light of a Government Accounting Office report that the Veterans Choice program “has failed to provide care within 30 days as promised due to faulty data and poor record-keeping that could take years to remedy.”

The GAO found, in the report it issued earlier this week, that veterans could often wait 51–64 days to get an appointment with a private doctor when using the Veterans Choice program. GAO said in its report that the scheduling process could take as long as 70 days.

Among the problems responsible for the delays, the report cites “bureaucratic inefficiency and understaffing at the Department of Veterans Affairs, which often took weeks to make a referral to a private doctor.” It adds that in more than 10 percent of cases, the GAO found incorrect starting dates entered by the VA as it tracks how long veterans have to wait for medical care. Investigators “said it was unclear whether the data entries were a mistake or an inappropriate attempt to mask delays in providing care.”

The VA has said a planned overhaul of electronic health records, including exchanging records with private providers, could take at least 10 years to be fully complete. Government investigators warned of future problems during program expansion, writing in the report, “We found numerous operational and oversight weaknesses with VHA’s management of scheduling veterans’ medical appointments through the Choice program.”

There’s also that funding question. And while a bipartisan group of senators looks to pay for the new law by adding new funds to cover the private care program, the White House has been pushing against it, calling it “anathema to responsible spending.” The Trump administration sent a memo to legislators that not only warned about “virtually unlimited increases” in veterans care spending but said that any added costs involved in the expanded Choice program should be paid for by cutting spending elsewhere at VA.

“Without subjecting the program to any budgetary constraint, there is no incentive to continue to serve veterans with innovative, streamlined, and efficient quality of care,” the memo reads, as reported by AP.

Major veterans’ groups have warned about “cannibalizing” the VA to pay for the new private care program, and the report quotes Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee: “We do our veterans no favors by promising care without backing it up with resources.” A failure to put new funding in place, he adds, “would jeopardize the health care and well-being of our veterans.”

Before this latest piece of legislation, veterans could only seek outside care when they had to wait 30 days for an appointment or drive more than 40 miles to a VA facility. The new law relaxes those Choice program restrictions.