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Veterans Choice
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The Veterans Affairs Department released its draft proposal to revise the current Veterans Choice Program, setting up weeks of passionate debate on what the future of the program should look like.
October 17, 2017 -
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As Congress will soon resume debates over the future of the Veterans Choice Program, the American Federation of Government Employees is urging lawmakers to consider consequences of privatization.
October 06, 2017 -
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Dr. David Shulkin inherited a Veterans Affairs Department only partway through a badly needed transformation. As secretary, he's got a lot of tough constituents — Congress, a demanding president, veterans groups and veterans themselves. Shulkin discussed a number of pressing matters on Federal Drive with Tom Temin, starting with the consequences of new funding for the Veterans Choice program just approved by Congress. It extends veterans' ability to obtain health care outside of the VA system. Just don't call it privatization.
August 01, 2017 -
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The House passed a last-minute bill Friday morning that will replenish the Veterans Choice Program with $2.1 billion in additional funds for the next six months. The additional Choice funds are crucial, as they buy lawmakers and the Veterans Affairs Department more time to redesign the program. But the legislation is also packed with new hiring flexibilities.
July 28, 2017 -
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The House will vote this week on a bill that would replenish the Veterans Choice Fund with an additional $2 billion. But to offset the costs, VA would continue to collect housing loan fees and would trim pensions for some veterans living in nursing facilities that are covered under Medicaid.
July 24, 2017 -
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Senators have two very different proposals to redesign the Veterans Choice Program. Both pieces of legislation represent very different ideologies and sides of a debate that Congress, the Veterans Affairs Department, veterans service organizations and federal employee groups have been having for the past three years.
July 11, 2017 -
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A small group of senators says the Veterans Health Administration should have its own chief information officer, who would report to the department's undersecretary for health and would oversee all management and procurement decisions related to the health administration's IT systems. It's one of a few specific recommendations from the VA Commission on Care that are beginning to appear in new pieces of legislation.
July 05, 2017 -
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The Veterans Affairs Department once again needs congressional authority to transfer funds from one account to another to keep the Veterans Choice Program running for the rest of fiscal 2017. VA Secretary David Shulkin says the issue emphasizes the need to redesign the program, yet Congress has its concerns about the viability of Choice in the near and long term future.
June 14, 2017 -
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Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin offered the first glimpse of his plan to redesign the current Veterans Choice Program. He's calling it the Veterans' Coordinated Access Rewarding Experience (CARE) Program, and under the new initiative, veterans would no longer access community providers based on a set of arbitrary, administrative rules.
June 08, 2017 -
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Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin delivered his diagnosis of the department in a "State of the VA" briefing before reporters Wednesday morning. He outlined 13 areas where the department needs to improve and the legislative and administrative fixes it needs in order to see progress.
May 31, 2017 -
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The Veterans Affairs Department may get a big budget boost in fiscal 2018 under the president's proposal. Most of the additional funding will go toward health care, both in and outside the department. But the budget proposal does suggest cuts, and lawmakers said they're concerned by possible spending reductions to VA information technology and medical research.
May 24, 2017 -
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The Veterans Affairs Department is preparing a "State of VA" report on the challenges facing the agency, Secretary David Shulkin told reporters Wednesday. The report comes as VA quickly begins to plot some of its efforts to comply with the President's government reorganization efforts during the fiscal 2018 budget cycle. VA is one of few civilian agencies that may see a major funding boost next year, according to the President's budget proposal.
May 03, 2017 -
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President Trump issued an executive order for federal agencies to review their policies and procedures for buying American. He suspect loopholes in buy-American laws are too often used when the government buys. Agencies are to forward their legal and procedural reviews to Commerce Secretary Wilber Ross, who will in turn deliver a draft set of recommendations by the end of the year.
April 20, 2017 -
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The Veterans Choice Act provides VA with the opportunity to redefine what its role will be in 10 years.
March 17, 2017
