By Christin Nance Lazerus
The questions ran the gamut travel issues, lengthy claims processes, appointments made and canceled without notice, the VA Choice Act, and getting non VA care closer to home as veterans from across Northwest Indiana peppered Jesse Brown VA Medical Center Director Ann Brown with questions at a public forum Wednesday at the Lake County Government Center in Crown Point.
More than three dozen veterans were present during a sometimes frank but civil discussion about veterans health care.
Brown said the quality of VA care is second to none, but the process of accessing that care creates massive headaches for veterans across the country. “I’ve been in the VA system for 20-plus, and the overall care is still the best in the country,” Brown said.
Lengthy patient wait times and problematic paperwork delays have plagued the VA for years. Access was supposed to improve when Congress passed the VA Choice Act in 2014, which allows veterans to access care outside the VA
system if they live more than 40 miles away from a VA facility or if they’ve been on a waiting list for an appointment for at least 30 days. But veterans who live within 40 miles 
of Crown Point’s Adam Benjamin Jr. VA Outpatient Clinic wouldn’t qualify for a Choice Card voucher even if the specialty care they require, such as cardiology, is unavailable at Adam Benjamin.
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