Veterans will ideally have easier access to government-funded health care through a bill President Obama signed into law on Thursday, The Washington Examiner reported. This is the government's most sweeping response to a public outcry over problems that have been plaguing the Veterans Affairs Department.
The president signed the bill at Fort Belvoir, an Army base south of Washington, surrounded by service members, politicians and military leaders. Obama said the government would work on urgent reforms to make sure veterans are able to receive all the care they've earned. This will not be the end of his administration's efforts to make sure the Veterans Affairs department can keep pace with new demands, and that delays in care for veterans was outrageous.
The measure, worth $16.3 billion, allows the department to hire thousands of health care professionals at the VA's roughly 1,000 hospitals and clinics in the United States. Before taking a five-week recess, Congress approved the bill, one of few expansive bills to pass the House and the Senate this year, ABC reported.
Reports of veterans dying before they are able to see a doctor through the VA was the impetus for the legislation, along with reports of a widespread practice of employees trying to cover up wait times for appointments that stretched on for months.
The legislation puts forward $10 billion in emergency spending over the next three years to pay private doctors and health care expects to care for veterans who can't get appointments at the right time at VA clinics or who live over 40 miles from one of the centers. Hiring more VA doctors, nurses and other medical staff is also included, which comes with a $5 billion price tag, and $1.3 billion will be used to open 27 new facilities, according to ABC.Under new VA secretary Robert McDonald, ABC said the VA has taken steps to address problems in its health care system.
According to Deputy Veterans Affairs Secretary Sloan Gibson, VA employees will be disciplined as the group pinpoints the cause of the issues, which he said has breached a trust between veterans and an agency made for them.
