The House passed legislation Wednesday to allow more veterans to see doctors outside the Veterans Affairs system.
The bill, the VA MISSION Act, passed the House 347-70. It would allow more veterans to go outside the VA healthcare system and use private-sector doctors when VA medical centers can’t provide appointments within a month, veterans have to drive more than 40 minutes to access care, or when care is determined inadequate by VA leaders.
Through a statement from the White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders, Trump hailed the bill’s passage and urged the Senate to take it up swiftly.
“The president encourages members of the Senate to put the needs of our nation’s veterans over partisan politics and pass this necessary legislation before Memorial Day to ensure that our nation’s bravest do not have to wait in never-ending lines to receive the care they rightfully deserve,” Sanders said.
The $52 billion plan includes $5.2 billion to avoid shutdown of the Choice program, which is expected to run out of funds as early as May 31, disrupting medical care for veterans. Choice was created as a reaction to the scandals involving long wait times for care in the VA system, in which veterans died while they waited to receive medical care.
Republicans in the Senate have said they support the VA MISSION Act and Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, the top Democrat on the Veterans Affairs Committee, also has said he supports the legislation.
All those who voted against the House bill were Democrats. Opponents of the legislation have said they fear the VA is headed toward privatization, which would remove many responsibilities from the VA system and provide public funding to private medical centers.
Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tenn., the bill’s lead author, called the passage a “promise kept to our veterans.”
My bill, the #VAMISSIONAct, passed the House with bipartisan support today. This bill is a promise kept to our veterans. I look forward to seeing the Senate send this bill to @realDonaldTrump‘s desk.https://t.co/JivSLRhvFq pic.twitter.com/2r43Gkvh70
— Dr. Phil Roe (@DrPhilRoe) May 16, 2018
The bill had the support of 40 different veterans service organizations. One of them, Concerned Veterans for America, said in a statement that they hoped senators would “put politics aside” and that the bill would head to Trump’s desk before it runs out of funding at the end of the month.
“This bill is vital to the health and wellbeing of millions of our nation’s veterans who utilize the VA to get the care they need,” CVA Executive Director Dan Caldwell said in a statement. “Every day we don’t fix the VA health care system is another day veterans are subjected to substandard care and unacceptable wait times.”
