By Steve Myrick
A U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs program intended to create better access to health care for veterans in remote locations, including on Martha’s Vineyard, has instead left them angry and frustrated.
The Veteran’s Choice program allows veterans in locations where access to VA facilities is difficult to get medical care from the private sector.
The VA does not deliver the care directly, but contracts with the private company HealthNet, which administers the program for the eastern United States. At a meeting Tuesday afternoon, Island veterans and VA officials cited numerous examples where trying to navigate the HealthNet system has become a bureaucratic nightmare.
Susan MacKenzie, director of the VA’s Providence medical center, Lisa Felix, assistant chief of patient services, and public affairs officer Win Danielson 3rd traveled to the Vineyard to meet with veterans concerned about their
medical care. Also attending the meeting at the American Legion hall in Vineyard Haven 
was Dr. Monty VanBeber from the VA’s Hyannis clinic. Dr. VanBeber travels to the Island once a month to provide medical care to Island veterans.
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