VA running out of money for private health care program

WASHINGTON — Weeks after a veterans’ health initiative received $2.1 billion in emergency funding, the Trump administration says the privatesector Veterans Choice health care program might need additional money as early as December to avoid a disruption of care for hundreds of thousands of veterans.

The Department of Veterans Affairs said in a statement that it hoped to move quickly on a proposed longterm legislative fix that would give veterans even wider access to private doctors.

The proposal, under review by the White House Office of Management and Budget, would seek money to keep Choice running for much of next year as VA implements wider changes.

On Capitol Hill, the House Veterans Affairs Committee was already anticipating that the emergency funding approved in August may not last the full six months, according to spokespeople for both Republican and Democratic members on the panel.

They cited VA’s past problems in estimating Choice program cost.

In its statement, VA said it could not say for certain when Choice funds would be depleted, but acknowledged that it could be as early as December or as late as March.

Earlier this year, Veterans Affairs began limiting referrals to outside doctors as money began to run low and veterans reported delays in care.

The latest funding woes come amid political disagreement over the future direction of VA and its troubled Choice program, which was passed by Congress in 2014 in response to a wait-time scandal at the Phoenix VA medical center that spread nationwide.

Some veterans died while waiting months for appointments as VA employees manipulated records to hide delays.