The VA will go before Congress on Wednesday to unveil its new plan for trying to get the proper private medical care to the veterans who need it. The VA has been under fire for an unwieldy and unresponsive system of care.
On Wednesday, officials from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will go before Congress in an effort to reveal a sweeping new plan for the private care of the nation’s veterans. The VA has readily admitted that the growing demand for healthcare and its uncoordinated network of private doctors is leaving many veterans without the care they need and deserve. It is also turning away the best doctors.
The plan is called New Veterans Choice Program and is designed to combine many of the programs into one single health care system. The VA’s current system is so bogged down in bureaucracy that it is actually preventing veterans from getting the care they need, reports The Washington Post. VA Secretary Robert MacDonald said that they want to attract the best healthcare providers that they can and to integrate all services so that no one gets left behind.
The new plan will be truly ground breaking. It will allow veterans who live a certain distance from a VA hospital to engage private practitioners and the services will be paid for by the government. This has come in response to a recent scandal over waiting times for veterans in which many have died waiting to get in to see a doctor.
The VA has been overwhelmed and is finding it a struggle to keep up of late. This is due to a huge in-flow of veterans who had served in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as the aging Vietnam vets who are requiring more care and medical attention. The wait time scandal was revealed by whistle blowers in Phoenix last year but the scandal eventually spread nationwide. It was uncovered that wait times were being manipulated so as to cover up the enormous wait times veterans were forced to endure before they could get the care they need.
The Choice program is barely being noticed by veterans because VA staff are not telling them about it. They just continue to refer them to other private doctors and health care providers. For the most part, unlike a private health care plan, nothing is spelled out for veterans. They really are unaware of what they actually have access to.
