U.S. Reps. Phil Roe (R-TN) and Mike Coffman (R-CO) championed legislation that was signed into law this week to enhance and extend the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Veterans Choice Program beyond August and give veterans more health care options.
Roe, the chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, introduced a House companion to the Senate-version of the Veterans Choice Program Improvement Act that was signed into law by President Donald Trump on Tuesday. The measure allows the Choice Program to continue beyond its planned August sunset date until its $950 million in original appropriations are expended.
“It was an honor to stand with President Trump, VA Secretary David Shulkin and Florida Gov. Rick Scott to ensure our veterans have timely access to health care,” Roe said of a signing ceremony held at the White House. “Today, we made great progress in our mission to ensure every veteran who has served our country has access to high-quality health care. With this law, veterans will be able to continue utilizing the Choice Program to seek care in the community while we work with President Trump to improve the program and bring wholesale reform to the VA.”
The Veterans Choice Program was established in 2014 to enable veterans to seek care from a community provider if they live more than 40 miles from a VA facility or have to wait longer than 30 days for an appointment. The program was meant to help reduce a massive backlog of patients waiting for care after a widespread VA wait-time scandal.
In addition to extending the Choice Program, the bill also streamlines payment and medical record sharing processes between the VA and community providers.
“The signing of the Veterans’ Choice Program Improvement Act is not only the right thing to do for our veterans, but it’s an obligation we have to make sure those that have served receive timely medical care and attention they rightly have earned,” Coffman said. “I thank all my colleagues who together made sure this passed the House and Senate, and commend the president for signing this into law.”
Approximately 1.5 million veterans receive care from more than 350,000 community providers under the Choice Program.