“Roughly a fifth of President Donald Trump’s proposed $87 billion fiscal 2020 budget for Department of Veterans Affairs medical care would go to its community-care programs, an allocation VA officials say is consistent with previous years and not an expansion of private care.”
“Eager to point out that the VA is committed to providing the majority of its health care services to veterans within its own medical facilities, officials said Monday the department has budgeted for an increase in care both at VA facilities and in the private sector for fiscal 2020 and 2021…”
“Critics say the new rules, which would allow veterans to see a private doctor if they travel more than 30 minutes for a primary-care appointment and more than 60 minutes for specialty care, are designed to encourage veterans to get care at non-VA facilities.”
“The proposal, coupled with a $55 billion award to Optum Public Sector Solutions to manage three of six VA private-sector care contracts, as well as concerns over the influence of organizations pressing the government to outsource VA medical care, have raised questions that the Trump administration is quietly privatizing VA care…” Read the full article here.
Source: Proposed VA Budget Will Not Expand Private Care Funding, Officials Say – March 18, 2019. Military.com.
