Vietnam Veterans of America proposes mandatory funding for VA healthcare

Vietnam Veterans of America proposes mandatory funding for VA healthcare
· The VA medical system is grossly underfunded. On a per capita basis, a veteran using the VA system is funded at about 58 cents as compared to each $1 provided for a person receiving Medicare benefits. (See VVA White Paper at www.vva.org entitled, The Position of Vietnam Veterans of America on Health Care Funding for All Veterans.) Currently there is no way to restore the VA to the necessary minimum funding. After extensive study, VVA concluded that changing VA health care funding from a discretionary–meaning that Congress determines how much money it will allocate each year for veterans medical care–to a mandatory method is the only way to provide the VA with a predictable and reliable funding stream that is adequate for VA medical operations.

     · The Veterans Health Care Eligibility Reform Act of 1996 authorized eligible veterans to have access to VA health care. However, undermined by years of flat-line budgeting by Congress and by medical inflation, the VA budget has been strained beyond capacity. Thousands of enrolled veterans have had to wait six months or longer to see a primary care physician or specialist. More than 200,000 legally eligible veterans are denied service now because not enough money has been allocated for their care.

· Congress must enact legislation that provides mandatory funding for veterans– indexed both to medical inflation (including long-term care) and the per capita use of the VA health care system.

· Making veterans health care funding mandatory would eliminate the year-to-year uncertainties about funding levels that prevent VA from being able to plan for the growing number of veterans seeking care and treatment.

· By including all veterans currently eligible and enrolled for care in the mandatory health care funding bill, we will protect the overall viability of the system and its specialized programs, including spinal cord injury, prosthetics, and mental health treatment — especially Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder — that have been developed especially for veterans.

VVA’s primary legislative priority is mandatory funding for veterans’ health care. We are requesting that you contact your Members of Congress and ask that they co-sponsor and support H.R. 2318, the Assured Funding for Veterans Health Care Act, and contact your Senators and ask that they co-sponsor and support the companion bill S.50, the Veterans Health Care Funding Guarantee Act.