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BILLS INTRODUCED WOULD PROVIDE "A YEAR IN ADVANCE"

VA HEALTHCARE FUNDING -- "For almost two decades,

veterans' healthcare funding has either been

insufficient or late, and usually it is both."

For a previous story on this advance appropriations concept, click here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/
nfMAY08/nf052008-6.htm

Today we have two pieces of information ... first is a news story ... second is a press release from House Vets' Chair, Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA).

New story here... http://thehill.com/t
he-executive/measure-would-provide-pred
ictable-care-for-vets-2008-09-18.html

Story below:

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Measure would provide predictable care for vets

By Roxana Tiron

Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) and Rep. Bob Filner (D-Calif.), the chairmen of the Senate and House Veterans’ Affairs committees, on Thursday introduced bipartisan legislation that would ensure that injured soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have predictable medical care funding.

A coalition of veterans’ organizations has been pressing Congress for months to approve advance appropriations for medical care as part of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) budget.

This would give the VA much more certainty over its funding, as it would know its budget a year in advance. For example, funding for 2010 would have to be approved this year.

Congress now appropriates VA medical care funds on an annual basis. Political squabbling has delayed VA funding in 13 of the past 14 years — something that has severely hampered the department’s ability to plan and manage its healthcare system, according to veterans.

Veterans’ groups say the change would ensure the agency could better handle the growing number of veterans who depend on the government for medical care.

More troops are surviving attacks on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan thanks to improved equipment, but many return with traumatic brain injuries, lost limbs, severe burns or blindness that can make them dependent on VA care for life. Since many of those injured are only in their 20s, some will require decades of medical attention.

Veterans’ organizations and their supporters in Congress for years have pressed that the VA budget be mandatory entitlement spending, like Social Security and Medicare, as this would give the agency the most stability.

The groups have now shifted to pushing for the more realistic goal of advance appropriations — a first-time endeavor.

With one week remaining before Congress adjourns before the elections and only a chance of a lame-duck session afterwards, the likelihood of the legislation passing this year is slim. But the legislation is a symbol of the bipartisan support for a concept that Congress has not tackled before, supporters said.

The lawmakers worked closely with the Partnership for Veterans Healthcare Budget Reform, which is comprised of AMVETS, Blinded Veterans Association (BVA), Disabled American Veterans (DAV), Jewish War Veterans (JWV), Military Order of the Purple Heart (MOPH), Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA), The American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA).

“For almost two decades, veterans’ healthcare funding has either been insufficient or late, and usually it is both,” said PVA President Randy Pleva. “While funding bills have increased in recent years, especially the last two years, they are still consistently late.”

The new legislation would also require the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to audit VA’s budget forecasting model and report to Congress and the public on the integrity and accuracy of the model.

Fifty percent of VA’s funding is for veteran benefits, which are mandatory entitlement spending.

The other half is discretionary and covers healthcare. The majority of that funding goes to medical care, while a small portion goes into construction, prosthetic research and veterans’ support homes.

-------------------------

Filner press release here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/hcva08
/hcva091808-2.htm

Press release below:

-------------------------

Chairman Filner Introduces Legislation to End Delays and Stop Budget Shortfalls for Veterans Health Care Funding

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Bob Filner (D-CA) today introduced H.R. 6939, The Veterans Health Care Budget Reform Act, legislation to ensure that VA health care funding is sufficient, timely and predictable. The bipartisan bill was cosponsored in the House by Reps. Walter Jones (R-NC), Michael Michaud (D-ME), Timothy J. Walz (D-MN), and Phil Hare (D-IL). An identical bill was introduced in the Senate today by Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Daniel Akaka (D-HI).

Filner called the legislation, “a historic new approach to guarantee that our veterans have access to comprehensive, quality health care that they deserve and have earned. There is no greater priority facing our nation than providing health care to our veterans and we must be willing to pay the cost, whatever that cost may be. For too many years, VA has had to make do with insufficient budgets resulting in restricted access for many veterans. When funding is short, it is our veterans who pay the price.”

H.R. 6939 would authorize Congress to approve VA medical care appropriations one year in advance of the start of each fiscal year. Unlike proposals to convert VA health care to a mandatory funding program, an advance appropriation does not create PAYGO concerns since VA health care funding would remain discretionary. In addition, an advance appropriation would provide VA with up to a year in which to plan how to deliver the most efficient and effective care to an increasing number of veterans with increasingly complex medical conditions. Over the past six years VA has not received its final budget until more than three months after the start of the fiscal year, which resulted not only in delays in planned expansions of care for veterans, but also challenged VA to efficiently manage the system.

“There is no question that we’ve made great strides towards correcting these funding problems during the past two years,” said Chairman Filner. “However, this new legislation offers us a historic opportunity to permanently reform the VA health care budget process in a commonsense way to help ensure that future generations never again face these kinds of problems.”

Filner’s bill would also task the Governmental Accountability Office (GAO) with studying and reporting to Congress for the next three years on VA’s budget forecasting model and estimates. By shedding sunlight on VA’s internal budget process, Congress will have a much greater ability and incentive to develop appropriation bills that provide sufficient funding to meet the best estimate of anticipated demand for VA health care services in future years.

“We applaud Chairmen Filner and Akaka as well as the other original cosponsors for bringing forward a true, long term solution to VA’s health care funding problems,” said VFW National Commander Glen Gardner, speaking on behalf of the Partnership for Veterans Health Care Budget Reform, which includes nine of the nation’s largest veterans service organizations representing over eight million members. “America’s veterans deserve access to quality health care. This legislation would accomplish that and we look forward to working with the Chairmen and others to enact the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform Act as soon as possible,” he said.

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