Legislative Alerts
VA Health Care FY 2009 Budget
Congress has begun to hold hearings on the budget for 2009 and the outlook for veteran programs is not certain. Cal-Diego is responding in a number of ways to the President's fiscal year (FY) 2009 budget proposal, which falls short of meeting the needs of our veterans.
The Independent Budget (IB) AMVETS, Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA), and the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) has issued the 2009 Independent Budget report that highlights the $3 billion difference between what the President has recommended for the VA and what is actually needed. Under the President’s budget, there is not enough money for veterans’ health care, which could result in fewer services to deal with the surge of traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, visual and hearing impairment, and spinal cord injury/dysfunction. We will be working with Congress to correct funding shortfalls in critical areas such as health care, as well as work to reform the budget process to ensure that veterans’ health care funding is sufficient, timely, and predictable in the future.
The Administration has submitted its budget request to Congress for FY 2009. Although the Administration recommended a few slight increases in funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), including VA health care, the funding levels fall short of the resources necessary to provide adequate health care and benefits for veterans.
Disappointingly the Administration chose to once again recommend an increase in prescription drug co-payments from $8 to $15 and an indexed enrollment fee based on veterans’ incomes. Although the VA does not overtly explain the impact of these proposals, similar proposals in the past have estimated that nearly 200,000 veterans will leave the system and more than 1,000,000 veterans will choose not to enroll. Congress has soundly rejected these proposals in the past and we anticipate that they will do so again.
The Administration’s budget does not provide resources necessary to reopen the health-care system to Priority 8 veterans who were locked out of the health- care system beginning in January 2003. The IB estimates that the total overall cost to allow Priority 8 veterans into the system is approximately $1.4 billion. Cal-Diego believes strongly that the VA has a responsibility to include these veterans in the health-care system.
The Administration’s budget provides inadequate funding for both major construction and minor construction.
A new, improved funding mechanism has been proposed for VA health care. This proposal is being developed by the Partnership for Veterans Health Care Budget Reform as a result of the lack of interest in properly addressing mandatory funding in the Congress. The proposal would change VA’s medical care appropriation to an advance appropriation which would provide approval one year in advance, thereby guaranteeing its timeliness and predictability. Furthermore, it would add transparency to VA’s health care enrollee projection model, focusing the debate on the most actuarially-sound projection of veterans’ health care costs to ensure sufficiency. Under this proposal, Congress would retain its discretion to approve appropriations; retain all of its oversight authority; and most importantly, there would be no PAYGO problems.
Cost-of-Living Legislation Introduced
U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI), Chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, introduced legislation to increase veterans' compensation through a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). A bipartisan group of Veterans' Affairs Committee Members signed on as original cosponsors of this legislation. The Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2008 would increase as of Dec. 1, 2008 the rates of:
(1) veterans' disability compensation,
(2) dependency and indemnity compensation for surviving spouses and children, and,
(3) additional related benefits. The COLA increase for veterans would match the annual increase provided to Social Security recipients.
Secretary Vows to Reduce Wait Times
Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary James Peake pledged to reduce the time it takes veterans to receive medical care and disability claims payments. At a recent hearing of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, the Secretary said he would work to reduce wait times for VA medical care from about 180 days to 145 days by 2009. According to Peake, VA will hire 3,100 new employees by 2009 and will work to gain greater online access to Pentagon medical information, which will allow staff to process claims faster and move toward an electronic claims filing system.