Negotiators Agree on New $17B Bill to Address VA Hospital Problems

Lawmakers have approved a plan to overhaul the Department of Veterans Affairs amidst a scandal involving long patient wait times with mounting evidence that that they were systematically covered up by VA employees.

The chairmen of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs committees and the bill’s co-sponsors –Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) – announced a final agreement on the bill Monday afternoon after it passed a vote by the 28-member conference committee, according to the Washington Post.

Miller and Sanders said at a news conference Monday that the bill “makes certain that we address the immediate crisis of veterans being forced onto long waiting lists for health care,” NPR reports. It is expected to pass a full vote of the House and Senate before legislators adjourn until early September.

Tom Tarantino, chief policy officer of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, lauded the agreement, although he thought it should have come earlier, says Yahoo News. Tarantino said “It’s about time” congressional leaders are doing their jobs.

Final Costs Remain Uncertain

With the summer recess looming and a deal seeming doubtful after Miller and Sanders exchanged barbs during separate news conferences last week, the two resumed talks heading into the weekend and reached a compromise.

NPR, however, says that it may just be “an agreement to agree.” The bill has a $17 billion price tag that the Post says will be brought down to about $12 billion after a $5 billion savings offset.

Still, it’s uncertain how Congress would pay for the bill, as Democrats favor treating the costs like emergency spending while Republicans prefer raising revenues or making other cuts.

Until the Congressional Budget Office has a chance to crunch the numbers, $17 billion remains a preliminary estimate. Lawmakers, however, have been under increasing pressure to reform a VA healthcare system that according to audits and whistleblowers forced thousands of veterans to wait months for initial appointments and then altered records to cover up the delays and the deaths of patients awaiting care.

Key Bill Provisions

A summary of the bill posted on the official website of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ office notes the following provisions:

• A firing provision that allows the VA secretary to fire or demote underperforming or misbehaving senior executives, who would then have one week to appeal the decision to the Merit Systems Protection Board.
• A veteran’s choice card that would allow patients to seek care at non-VA facilities if they can’t get an appointment within 30 days or if they live 40 or more miles from a VA hospital.
• Around $6.5 million to hire additional doctors, nurses and other medical staff and lease more than two dozen clinics across the country.
• Miscellaneous support for veterans and their families, including survivor benefits and an expanded program for traumatic brain injury victims.

The bill can be read in its entirety here.

At Morrow Kidman Tinker Macey-Cushman, PLLC, we have recovered compensation for military veterans and their families in cases concerning delayed and mismanaged care by VA providers. We are experienced in navigating the system for bringing medical malpractice claims against the VA, and will work to bring justice for our clients. If you are concerned about delays or errors in your VA care, do not hesitate to call us or contact us using our online form.