VA Choice running out of money
The Veterans’ Affairs Department secretary warned Congress that the Veterans’ Choice program may run out of money in mid-August. The new program which was implemented to relieve some of the pressures on the VA healthcare a few years ago after the scandal-ridden agency was caught flat-footed in their pursuit of fulfilling their obligations across the country. A few weeks after the Veterans’ Choice program was instituted, the Obama Administration declared that it was unsuccessful and began dismantling it.
So Secretary Shulkin is forced to shake a tin cup at Congress to secure funding for the program, which was only meant to be stop-gap while the VA retooled it’s healthcare system;
Shulkin, however, blamed the lack of funding on unanticipated demand for the program and suggested that the 2018 budget request might need to be adjusted.
“On financial projections, we have to do better,” he told the committee. “We do not want to see veterans impacted at all by our inability to manage budgets.”
Moran joined three other senators June 21 in writing a letter to the VA supporting emergency funds to cover the Choice shortfall, but admonishing the department for its past missteps:
Unless Congress appropriates emergency funding to continue the Veterans Choice Program, hundreds of thousands of veterans who now rely on the Choice Card will be sent back to a VA that cannot effectively manage or coordinate their care. We cannot send our veterans back to the pre-scandal days in which veterans were subjected to unacceptable wait-times.
I’m using Veterans’ Choice for the first time next month for some outpatient things and I’m hating it. Civilian doctors and their staffs are such primadonnas. I don’t know what the hold up is, but the appointment in July was scheduled in March – real convenient and a time saver.
Category: Veterans' Affairs Department
Gubbamint-issued health care, what a joy it is to deal with!
THIS is why we want the government in charge of a single-payer system.
I see the news media is of course spinning this as “Trump screwing the vets” despite who originally trimmed the budget.
I trust that first sentence is sarcasm?
Yep. I’m prone to it. And arrogant enough to feel like it’s blatant enough to recognize. Thank you for participating.
And now they’re talking about changing how the disability compensation system works.
I used Veterans Choice the beginning of June for a test. Wasn’t bad, but my VA PCM STILL hasn’t told me the results of the test. Results which were available a week after. So on Wednesday I have to burn additional SL to go to the VA so they can tell me the results. While I realize many Vets like the VA, I do not. I’ve had 1 good PCM since 2008. Unfortunately she left back in 2014. The one I have now in the Women’s Health Clinic sucks. She never checks up on her referrals hence the reason I have to go on Wednesday.
Misleading article.
There’s the older Vet Choice First program, which has been replaced by the Vet Choice Forty program.
I dealt with this recently. I had an authorization for orthopedic services and surgery that was valid for a year. Before I was able to get the final appointment and clearance from the surgeon for regular activity, I had to get an all new authorization under the Vet Choice Forty program.
The problems came when I call Tri West, they administer Vet Choice in my area, and tried to get a secondary authorization under the initial and expired authorization. The VA denied it, because that program has been replaced and since it’s replaced, it’s not longer funded.
After getting in touch with my VA PCM and receiving a call from the VA/Vet Choice SME at the local VAMC, I learned that Vet Choice Forty allows the veteran to ‘self-refer’, so I was able to get a new authorization to see the orthopedic surgeon.
This is what I asked about in the weekend open thread. In my area though there just telling some doctors it’s cancelled and to send their patients back to the VA for further care.
Yet another example of why a single-payer system would fail horribly in the US. Especially with over 320 million people to track and deal with.
We’re screwed because of the previous administration trying to “balance the budget on the backs of veterans” with the help/passive resistance of Congress along for the ride.
The Vet’s Choice program is a good idea, but it depends on your VA hospital/clinic, your PCM, your issues, etc. Some things are easy, but many are not. Every VA hospital is not created equally, even with the new VA Accountability bill getting passed.
Defund Medicaid for illegal aliens and their progeny, and there will be plenty for the veterans and senior citizens. The last time i had an injury at work, there were at least a dozen people ahead of me, speaking only Spanish demanding medicaid. Nough said.