United States military veterans must be afforded ongoing health care in their communities, say U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) and 19 of his Senate colleagues, who worry that recent strategy shifts at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) are putting veterans’ lives at risk.
“We write to you today to reaffirm veterans’ right to community care and to urge you to quickly correct policy initiatives that are endangering the lives of veterans,” the lawmakers wrote in a June 25 letter sent to VA Secretary Denis McDonough. “For countless veterans, the convenience, accessibility, and control that community care offers is life-saving.”
In 2018, Congress passed the MISSION Act, which increased access to care for veterans by expanding their ability to be seen by healthcare providers in their communities, they wrote.
Recently, though, VA leaders have been working to limit opportunities for community care for veterans.
“In the years since the MISSION Act was enacted, the VA healthcare system has seen significant increases in enrollment, utilization, and reliance, as well as improvements in key measures of quality and veteran trust,” wrote Sen. Moran and his colleagues. “However, a recent shift in strategy at VA is jeopardizing these significant gains for our veterans.”
In January, for instance, Dr. Shereef Elnahal, Under Secretary for Health, commissioned a panel known as the Red Team to assess the trends and drivers of increasing community care spending. Among the Red Team’s recommendations are suggestions that the VA save money by reducing community care referrals for veterans seeking emergency, oncology, and mental health care, according to their letter.
“Veterans in need of these services are among the most vulnerable and high-risk,” wrote the senators. “It is unconscionable that VA would consider leaving them with fewer options to seek needed care.”
They pointed out that numerous veterans have told them that their community care authorizations have been revoked, while VA whistleblowers have disclosed burdensome processes in which VA medical center leaders highly scrutinize community care referrals in an effort to recapture care in VA medical facilities.
The senators said they’re also “alarmed” by the volume of concerns they have heard from veterans and VA staff who attribute limitations on care in the community to a lack of funding for VA.
“Congress has never failed to provide VA with the resources required to fulfill its mission,” the senators wrote. “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.”
The lawmakers urged McDonough to refute the Red Team’s recommendations and issue guidance and retraining materials to all VA staff reaffirming veterans’ right to seek community care.
Among the 19 members who joined Sen. Moran in signing the letter were U.S. Sens. Deb Fischer (R-NE), Steve Daines (R-MT), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Joni Ernst (R-IA), and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN).