Better in their words…

Certainly he is building his legacy…
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By PETE HEGSETH
Updated March 12, 2015 8:16 p.m. ET

Last August President Obama signed the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act, the most significant reform to the Department of Veterans Affairs in decades. Seven months later, the Veterans Choice Program, a core part of the law designed to help veterans see private doctors, is floundering. Yet instead of fixing the many problems, the Obama administration is using them as an excuse to divert funding from the program.

After the VA’s waiting-list scandal broke early last year, with reports that at least 19 veterans died at VA hospitals in 2010-11 due to delays in diagnosis and treatment, there was bipartisan consensus that change was needed to address the VA’s deep bureaucratic dysfunction. In addition to more accountability for VA facilities and staff, Congress wanted expanded private health-care options for eligible veterans.

Particularly promising was the new Veterans Choice Program. It was designed to give veterans who lack timely or convenient access to VA health care the ability to seek compensated care from a private provider. Since November, 8.6 million Veterans Choice cards have been mailed out, but according to the VA only 27,000 veterans have made appointments for private medical care using the cards.

The VA fails to mention that it missed several deadlines for mailing the cards and issued confusing and overly stringent criteria for using them. Cardholders must call a toll-free number and follow prompts before speaking to a representative, which in some cases has taken more than an hour. To qualify, they must verify there is at least a 30-day wait for treatment at a VA medical facility or live at least 40 miles (as the crow flies) from a VA medical facility.

A recent Veterans of Foreign Wars survey on the Veterans Choice Program found that “80 percent of the 1,068 survey participants who reported that they either lived 40 miles from a VA medical facility or could not be seen by VA within 30 days said they were not afforded the choice to receive non-VA care.” Almost all the more than 2,500 respondents were interested in getting private care. Those lucky enough to meet the criteria and use the program were generally offered only a narrow set of options.

A generous interpretation is that the VA is having difficulty standing up a new program. A less generous interpretation is that the VA bureaucracy is intentionally erecting barriers to protect its monopoly on veterans’ health care. The recent statements and actions of VA leaders lend credence to this more cynical, but also more realistic, interpretation.

Helen Tierney, assistant secretary for management at Veterans Affairs, told the Military Times newspaper last month that the VA has “a strong indication that this [private care] is not veterans’ preferred choice” and they “would prefer to remain in the VA” for their care. Ms. Tierney—a White House appointee in 2014 with little previous health-care or veterans experience—offered no supporting evidence for these sweeping assertions.

Now comes the Obama administration’s fiscal year 2016 budget proposal, issued in early February. Deep in the document is a note that the administration proposed to “reallocate a portion of Veterans Choice Program funding to support essential investments in VA system priorities in a fiscally-responsible, budget-neutral manner.”

The program was initially funded at a relatively modest $10 billion, and it’s still unclear how much the VA seeks to reallocate. But the fact that less than a year into the program the administration is already talking it down and hoping to shift funding raises serious red flags among choice advocates. Imagine if the same thing had been done to the president’s “signature” health-care law.

What do veterans actually want? In addition to the VFW survey, a nationwide poll commissioned recently by my organization, Concerned Veterans for America, found that 90% of veterans favor reforms to VA health care, with 88% saying it is “extremely” or “very important” to offer expanded choice. Seventy-seven percent would support choice even if it means paying a little more out of pocket. These numbers are incontrovertible; they are a mandate for change and choice.

“I’m as frustrated as you all are,” Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald told the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee on Feb. 26 as they discussed the Choice Program’s low enrollment numbers, even as he expressed a desire to divert some of the funding to VA hospitals and clinics. Members of Congress have questioned the VA’s commitment to the program. As Sen. Jerry Moran (R., Kan.) said in last month’s committee meeting, the VA’s request to direct money from the Choice Program “demonstrates a lack of interest in this program.”

President Obama, in his remarks on signing the VA bill last summer, hailed the reforms as evidence that “our country keeps the promises that we’ve made to everybody who signs up to serve.” Secretary McDonald has also said he is committed to the program’s success. Sincere words from both men, no doubt. But now they must live up to those words.

Veterans chose to serve their country. Why can’t they choose their doctor? Is that too much to ask?

Mr. Hegseth is the CEO of Concerned Veterans for America and a Fox News contributor. A U.S. Army infantry veteran, he served tours in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay.

Pete Hegseth: Breaking Another Promise to Veterans – WSJ.