|
click above for details
click for details
VA Watchdog Stuff...
cups, hats, shirts...
click on item to order
and support the site.
Be sure to get all four
VA Watchdog dot Org
RSS feeds --
Daily VA
News Flashes
House CVA
Veterans' News
Senate CVA
Veterans' News
VA Press
Releases
Download your
free copy of the
2009 VA benefits
handbook here...
|
Printer-Friendly Version
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DEMOCRATIC PRESS RELEASE
April 30, 2009
-------------------------
Filner Holds Hearing on Advance Appropriations for Veterans’ Health Care
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Washington, D.C. - On Wednesday, April 29, 2009, House Committee on
Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Bob Filner conducted a hearing to explore
securing timely funding for veterans’ health care through advance
appropriations. The hearing focused on the efficacy of the health care
budget forecasting model currently used by the Department of Veterans
Affairs (VA) to formulate budget requests.
“Our goal is to make sure that the VA has sufficient budgets to meet the
needs of veterans and that these budgets are provided in a timely fashion
in order for the VA to make the most out of these dollars,” said Chairman
Filner. “Today, we will begin the discussion as to how best to fund the VA
of the future, and we must consider a historic new approach. 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.”
Chairman Filner introduced legislation to 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, H.R. 1016 does not create PAYGO concerns since VA health
care funding would remain discretionary. Congress employs a PAYGO rule
which demands that new proposals must either be budget neutral or offset
with savings derived from existing funds. 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. Daniel K. Akaka
(D-HI), Chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, has introduced
S. 423, a companion bill to H.R. 1016.
Paralyzed Veterans of America National Legislative Director Carl Blake
testified on behalf of The Partnership for Veterans Health Care Budget
Reform. The Partnership generally supports the idea of advance
appropriations as a way to make a program function more effectively and
provide insulation from annual partisan political maneuvering. Blake also
addressed concerns regarding unforeseen events and catastrophes not being
included in budget forecasts if they are prepared in advance. “The
Partnership does not believe that the advance appropriations proposal
somehow changes the actions that Congress would take under these
circumstances,” said Blake. “There seems to be an assumption that if our
entire proposal were to be enacted, that Congress would no longer have or
choose not to use its authority to provide emergency supplemental
appropriations when warranted.”
A panel of economists and analysts discussed the efficacy of the current
forecasting model used to determine future budget needs. In 2008, the Rand
Corporation published a report entitled “Gauging Future Demand for
Veterans’ Health Care: Does the VA Have the Forecasting Tools It Needs?”
The evaluation found that the model is useful for short-term budget
planning, but is less useful for long-term strategic planning and policy
analysis. However, the model allows for modifications to improve support
for long-term planning.
H.R 1016 includes provisions to direct 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.
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki discussed advance
appropriations and the challenge of projecting VA’s budget needs two years
into the future. He testified, “Implementing an advance funding mechanism
is not without challenges and careful planning is needed to ensure timely
funding without unintended consequences. Budget projections are rarely
right on the mark, and the further out they are made, the farther off the
mark they are likely to be. For an advance appropriations mechanism to
function effectively, it must be linked to a forecasting model that is
both reliable and accurate, to the extent possible.”
Filner concluded: “There is no question that we have made great strides
towards correcting funding problems during the past two years – increasing
the veterans’ budget and providing the appropriations at the start of the
fiscal year. However, we have an 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. We need to balance
the two competing issues of having access to funding on time and having
access to an accurate estimate. I am convinced that an inaccurate budget
projection is better than no budget at all.”
Witness List
Panel 1:
Joseph Violante, Disabled American Veterans, The Partnership for Veterans
Health Care Budget Reform
Steve Robertson, The American Legion, The Partnership for Veterans Health
Care Budget Reform
Carl Blake, Paralyzed Veterans of America, The Partnership for Veterans
Health Care Budget Reform
Panel 2:
* Katherine M. Harris, Senior Economist, RAND Corporation
* Sidath Viranga Panangala, Analyst in Veterans Policy, Congressional
Research Service, Library of Congress
* Jessica Banthin, Director of Modeling and Simulation of the Center for
Financing, Access and Cost Trends (CFACT), Agency for Healthcare Research
and Quality, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
* Randall Williamson, Director, Healthcare Team, VA/DOD Health Care Issues
Accompanied by
* Susan J. Irving, Director for Federal Budget Analysis, Strategic Issues,
U.S. Government Accountability Office
Panel 3:
* The Honorable Eric K. Shinseki, Secretary, U.S. Department of Veterans
Affairs
Accompanied by
* Patricia Vandenberg, MHA, BSN, Assistant Deputy Under Secretary for
Health for Policy and Planning, Veterans Health Administration
###
Prepared testimony and a link to the webcast of the hearing are available
on the internet at this link:
http://veterans.house.gov/hearings/hearing.aspx?newsid=382.
-------------------------
posted by Larry
Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org
Don't forget to read all of today's VA
News Flashes (click here)
Click here to make VA Watchdog dot Org your homepage
email Larry
(go back
to VA Watchdog dot Org Home Page) |
Military
Medical Malpractice
Legal
Network
VA Watchdog Stuff...
cups, hats, shirts...
click on item to order
and support the site.
|
