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REPUBLICAN PRESS RELEASE

May 9, 2007

“The State of VA’s Long-Term Care Program Present and Future”

Washington, D.C. — Today, the Subcommittee on Health held an oversight hearing examining the continuum of extended care services provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and VA’s strategic direction for meeting the future long-term care needs of our disabled and aging veterans.

VA testified that there is a great and growing need for long-term care services for elderly and disabled veterans. The Department expects the number of enrolled veterans most in need of long-term care services, those 85 years and older, to dramatically increase by 2012, growing from 337,000 veterans in 2005 to 741,000, a 120% increase. In addition to the challenge of caring for a large elderly veteran population, VA is being presented with an emerging need to care for seriously disabled younger veterans returning from the Global War on Terror.

Adrian Atizado, assistant national legislative director of Disabled American Veterans, testified “the DAV is cognizant of VA’s need to plan strategically how best to use its resources to provide equitable access for veterans needing acute care services, while also providing a growing elderly veteran population with institutional and non-institutional long-term care services. However, the present state of VA’s long-term care program is now lagging behind its rich history as an early leader in caring for aging veterans, and in danger of falling behind non-VA health care systems.”

Public Law 109-461 requires VA to publish a strategic plan for the provision of long-term care by June 20, 2007. “We have allowed VA to drag its feet on this issue for far too long. Hopefully this long awaited plan will provide a clear map of the Department’s future strategy for delivering long-term care services for those veterans and their families who rely on VA to provide these services,” said subcommittee member Henry E. Brown, Jr. (R-S.C.).

The subcommittee also heard from Raymond A. Nagel, chief executive officer for Maine Veterans’ Homes, about the successful long-standing federal-state partnership and the role of State Veterans Homes in assuring that eligible veterans receive quality long-term care.

“The quality in which we provide long-term care is a reflection on how this country honors the sacrifices of our nation’s veterans,” Brown said.

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Larry Scott

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