Bill would stabilize funding for veterans health care system

House lawmakers introduced a bill last week that would change the way the Veterans Affairs Department's health care system is funded. Currently, the VA health care system is subject to discretionary funding, competing with highway projects for money, according to Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., who introduced the "Veterans Health Care Funding Guarantee Act of 2002" (H.R. 5250) on July 26 together with Rep. Lane Evans, D-Ill. Smith is chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. "We are introducing this bill in recognition of the continually frustrating annual struggles to obtain sufficient funding to provide access to quality care for the nation's veterans in VA health care facilities," Smith said on the House floor after introducing the bill. "This reality alone vividly illustrates the inherent weakness in the discretionary appropriations process for VA health care and the need to reform it." H.R. 5250 would establish a formula based on the average cost of treating a veteran in the VA health care system. That formula would determine the amount budgeted annually for the health care system and make the system less subject to the whims of Congress or the administration. "For at least the past five years, veterans' usage of VA health care services has surpassed administration estimates," Smith said. "The demand for services continues to outpace the supply of federal funding of VA health care." Disabled American Veterans, a nonprofit organization with more than 1 million members, praised the bill in a written statement, calling it a "bold step toward eliminating the year-to-year uncertainty about funding levels." "This shift in VA health care funding from a discretionary to a mandatory program would guarantee adequate resources to care for sick and disabled veterans," said Disabled American Veterans National Commander George H. Steese. "Year after year, federal funding has failed to keep pace with medical care inflation and the mounting financial burden for veterans health care caused by rising costs and increasing demand for medical services." Smith asked the Bush administration to review the bill and asked the Congressional Budget Office to perform a cost analysis of the proposal. "A mandatory funding stream will bring increased stability and predictability in funding the health care system designed to meet the needs or our nation's veterans," Rep. Evans said.