Bill would push the VA to expand outside medical care options for vets

House Republicans on Tuesday unveiled new legislation to expand veterans’ ability to access private-sector health care options using taxpayer dollars, a move that kicks off an expected debate in the coming years about the size and accountability of the system. Veterans Affairs health care.

The bill — called “Get the Mission Done” — is sponsored by House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Bost, R-Ill., and has received strong support from several conservative activists.

It would expand community care options for Veterans Health Administration patients to include nearly all extended care services, such as residential mental health rehabilitation, and prevent the VA from offer telehealth appointments with department physicians instead of outpatient care options.

This measure will also simplify the rules for considering the merits of social care, including accountability for the timing and choices of carers. It will mandate new reimbursement rules for outpatient medical offices and mandate better sharing of VA leads with patients.

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“The [original] The MISSION Act has transformed the delivery of health care to veterans across the country, particularly in rural and remote areas of the country,” Bost said in a statement. “Every soldier has access to timely options for health care. to meet their needs – no officer is allowed to stand in the way of that.”

Expanding “choice” veterans’ medical benefits was a major issue of President Donald Trump’s first term, and is expected to be a key issue when he takes office again next year.

Congress passed the VA MISSION Act in June 2018, which changed eligibility rules for veterans outside of care options.

Social care options have expanded significantly since then. In fiscal 2017, the agency paid for nearly 27 million outpatient appointments, about 27% of all scheduled VA visits. In fiscal 2023, that number grew to 47 million, about 39% of the total.

Despite the growth, conservative groups have accused President Joe Biden’s administration of trying to undermine outside care options, with excessive regulations and inadequate communication of patient choices. They also accused VA leaders of working to grow their department instead of finding ways to better serve veterans.

While introducing the bill, Bost criticized “VA administrators who stand in the way of veterans’ access to social care.”

Concerned Veterans for America Policy Director John Byrnes said VA leaders have “failed our nation’s heroes for nearly four years by not holding senior officials accountable for acting with integrity and supporting VA’s mission to hold the veterans they are sworn to serve.”

“While the VA MISSION Act was signed into law by President Trump, current VA leadership supports behavioral barriers to veterans’ access to public care,” Byrnes continued, “that access the law allows.”

VA leaders oppose that.

In a hearing before the House Appropriations Committee last month, Under Secretary of Health Shereef Elnahal said that “public care is very much needed for many veterans.”

But he acknowledged that the growth rate of social care has slowed in recent years, which he says is because “we provide a lot of referrals between the medical centers that many veterans take us to, and the veterans he chose with his feet.”

Democratic lawmakers have accused their Republican colleagues of working to defund the VA, undermining the agency’s vast health care system to divert large amounts of taxpayer money to private businesses. More than $24 billion is already spent on social care recruitment each year.

Despite potential support in the Republican-controlled House, Bost’s new measure may face difficulty becoming law this year due to the published legislative schedule facing lawmakers.

Only three weeks of session are scheduled before the end of the 118th Congress, and leaders of the House and Senate must pass several other bills – including a full extension of the federal budget and a defense authorization bill. annually – before 1 January.

However, if the measure does not pass this year, it may be the basis for efforts to make laws for veterans in the next session, where Republicans will control the House, Senate and White House.