Senators Seek to Protect, Strengthen Veterans Community Care Program

Senators Seek to Protect, Strengthen Veterans Community Care Program

Grassley, colleagues cite challenges veterans have faced to secure needed medical services

WASHINGTON - Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) joined Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), ranking member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, in urging the Veterans Affairs (VA) Department to quickly correct policies that are making it harder for veterans to receive care.

"Congress has never failed to provide VA with the resources required to fulfill its mission," the senators wrote to VA Secretary Denis McDonough. "If you believe that VA lacks the funding to provide the level of access to care that veterans deserve in VA and in the community, it is incumbent on you to reprioritize resources from non-patient care areas and reduce waste, fraud and abuse, not to unilaterally implement purported cost-savings measures that, even as an unintended consequence, decrease veteran choice and endanger veteran lives."

Congress in 2018 passed the MISSION Act to expand veterans' access to care by improving their ability to see local health care providers. However, recent actions by VA leadership indicate the agency may be limiting community care options for veterans - contrary to the letter and spirit of the MISSION Act. Grassley and his colleagues last month launched a connected oversight inquiry regarding the findings of a "Red Team" report; rather than identifying avenues to strengthen the Veterans Community Care Program (VCCP), the senators assert it largely focuses on "finding creative ways to bring veterans back into the VA's direct care system."

Joining Grassley and Moran on this effort are Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas), John Thune (R-S.D.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) and Ted Budd (R-N.C.).

Read the senators' letterHERE.

About the VCCP:

The VCCP allows veterans to secure care in their local communities when they can't secure it at a VA facility. When veterans use community care, the VA will pay for the veteran's healthcare; if veterans have private insurance, the VA is supposed to recoup the money it spent by billing that private insurer. The VA then uses the reimbursements to support the Veterans Health Administration.

Related:

• Grassley earlier this year pressed Secretary McDonough for answers after watchdog findings exposed the VA for failing to collect over $217 million in reimbursements from private insurers as part of the VCCP.
• Grassley last Congress requested information on the VA's progress towards implementing community care standards. He posited the agency's guidance appeared to deter eligible veterans from seeking non-VA services.

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