Comments on 12.19.2018  Joint Congressional Veterans' Affairs Committee Hearing

 

December 19, 2018

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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The Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute released the following statement on the VA MISSION Act Implementation Joint Congressional Veterans Affairs Committee hearing on Wednesday, December 19: 

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“There is little time between now and the rollout of the VA MISSION Act, and yet VA Secretary Robert Wilkie has done little to reassure veterans they will receive the highest quality care available in their community. Most of the discussion of Wednesday’s hearing was about how providers will get paid rather than ensuring the delivery of high-quality care that veterans deserve.

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“Although the MISSION Act was designed to replace the VA Choice Program, it has so far ensured that the worst outcomes of the Choice Program will be repeated on a larger scale. Sec. Wilkie needs to come clean about who will be eligible for the community care program and how those costs will be mitigated without sacrificing quality or arbitrarily cutting successful VA programs.

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“If the gaps in quality standards and eligibility requirements are not resolved, this won’t just be a trainwreck. It will be the end of veterans’ dedicated health care system. Unless these problems are addressed and the political leaders make a commitment to high quality, lawmakers will have transformed America’s best healthcare system into one that mirror’s America’s worst.”

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Contact: Brett W. Copeland
Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute 
ExecDirector@VeteransPolicy.org | 202.210.8879

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