The Patriot Files Forums - More 'Supporting The Troops'!

already TOLD ya once?

But, I'll see if I can make it a little 'clearer' for you.

The VA health care system, in order to fully meet all of its demands and to ameliorate and repair the effects of the recent chronic under-funding, could use many more dollars than it has received under this adminstration.

The "mandatory funding" recommendation provides for the impact of inflation on the provision of health care, and mandated salary increases of health care personnel. It would provide the resources to begin to meet the demands of specialized services and programs, as well as the ever-increasing influx of new veterans entering the system.

It's estimated that of the more than 168,000 Iraq veterans who are no longer on active duty, sixteen percent have sought VA health care, and more is expected in the coming years. The full impact of the two-year grant of priority health care awarded by Congress for these veterans is yet to be fully felt.

The VA health care system faces two chronic problems. The first is a budget submission that ignores the costs of providing care while advocating continued draconian health care rationing. The second is a lack of consistent funding.

The budget and appropriations process over the last number of years demonstrates conclusively how the VA labors under the uncertainty of not only how much money it is going to get, but, equally important, when it is going to get it.

No Secretary of Veterans Affairs, no VA hospital director, and no doctor running an outpatient clinic knows how to plan and even provide care on a daily basis without the knowledge that the dollars needed to operate those programs are going to be available when they need them.

These past few years, under this administration, veterans? funding has been the subject of an omnibus bill that is enacted months after the start of the fiscal year. And this year (2005) the VA came up more than two (2) billion $$ short even AFTER an omnibus bill was passed due to inadequate planning from the Whitehouse and CBO. Congress had to appropiate 'EMERGENCY FUNDS' just to meet minimun requirements!

Health care delayed is health care denied. If the health care system cannot get the funds it needs when it needs those funds, the resulting situation only fuels efforts to deny more veterans health care and charge veterans even more for the health care they receive.

The only viable solution is for this Administration (or future adminstrations) and the Congress to approve legislation removing VA health care from the discretionary side of the budget process and making annual VA budgets mandatory. The health care system can only operate properly when it knows how much it is going to get and when it is going to get it.

Under current law, the VA budget is considered as "discretionary spending' that is subject to annual appropriations which are derived from forecasts by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Congress as well as Whitehouse Budgetary Personnel assumtions and forecasts that may or may not be based on actual data trends and supposed inflationary costs.

The current appropriations process is broken and is not adequately funding VA medical care. President George W. Bush assigned a special Task Force to Improve Health Care Delivery for this Nation?s Veterans in 2001 and they returned on May 26, 2003 and identified the problem between demand and funding as the major obstacle in meeting the nation?s commitment to veterans.

The PTF identified a significant mismatch between demand for VA services and available funding which, if left unresolved, would delay veterans' access to care and threaten the quality of care provided.

Under Recommendation 5.1, the PTF states, "The Federal Government should provide full funding to ensure that enrolled veterans in Priority Groups 1 through 7 (new) are provided the current comprehensive benefit in accordance with VA's established access standards. Full funding should occur through modifications to the current budget and appropriations process, by using a mandatory funding mechanism."

Based on their findings , the PTF recognized that even if VA were operating at maximum efficiency, it would be unable to meet its obligations to enrolled veterans with its current level of funding.

Twenty six (26) veterans? organizations and the Presidents OWN TASK FORCE believe the answer lies in changing VA health care funding from discretionary to mandatory appropriation. And so do I. But the President has FAILED to recommend his OWN Task Force's findings to Congress for implementation??

Guaranteed funding would eliminate the year-to-year uncertainty about funding levels for Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Adminstration and allow adequate planning to meet the growing needs of veterans seeking care.

It would allow for an appropriate annual adjustment for medical inflation so that VA can maintain adequate staff levels and keep pace with increased costs for medical equipment, supplies and pharmaceuticals.

But, for some reason the Republicans in Congress (and evidently the President also) believe it would create another 'entitlement' program that they can't get their greedy little fingers into the $$$$$$ pie and move it around where they see fit!

But in reality, mandatory health care funding would only change the way funds are provided for VA health care. It would neither create an individual entitlement to health care, nor change VA's current mission, eligibility requirements nor medical benefits package.

The Democrats are smart enough to see this, the Republicans are 'greedy' enough to keep it from happening!

Maybe THAT will suffice to answer your question?