Veterans groups oppose Choice program expansion

By Patricia Kime

The nation’s largest veterans groups have lined up to oppose any expansion of the Veterans Affairs Choice program that would allow all veterans who are eligible for VA medical care to use it.

The stand, by the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars and others, places the groups squarely in the corner of VA Secretary Bob McDonald, who has called proposals favoring private care for veterans over VA facilities, a “dereliction” of department duties, and at odds with seven powerful U.S. senators, including Arizona Republican John McCain, who have proposed legislation to lift restrictions on Choice.

Seven veterans organizations wrote the VA Commission on Care on April 29 saying they would oppose any VA health system that allows veterans to see a non-VA provider at any time.

The heads of the organizations, which also included Disabled American Veterans, Vietnam Veterans of America, AMVETS, Military Officers Association of America and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, told panel chairwoman Nancy Schlichting that giving all veterans access to private health care paid for by VA “would have serious costs, trade-offs and consequences that could endanger or harm the provision of health care to veterans.”

“Read the Full Article at NameOfWebSite.com >>>>”