Florida's former Republican Gov. Jeb Bush has become the third GOP presidential contender to support a voucher system for veterans to receive healthcare from the private sector.
Bush, who has yet officially to announce his candidacy, speaking at a breakfast meeting in Colorado Springs, commented: "This is where I think empowering people with the equivalent of a voucher gives you the same economic benefit of receiving care inside of a clinic or a hospital,"
The Wall Street Journal reported.
The idea of private healthcare vouchers for veterans, rather than limiting their healthcare access to Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities, arose from a scandal that erupted when an internal audit discovered that some VA facilities were falsifying records to hide the long waiting times that some veterans, including some who died while waiting, faced at those facilities,
the Journal said.
As a result, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki was forced to resign.
Bush thus joins with announced candidate Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, and as-yet-unannounced Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, in supporting a voucher system allowing veterans to use non-VA facilities, the Journal said.
Last month, at a New Hampshire fundraiser, Bush said, "I know it has a pejorative for some, but I'm all in on the voucher thing,"
C-Span reported.
"No one's suggesting we shut down the VA system. But the simple fact is the VA doesn't look like it's made any effort to (let) veterans know that this is available to them. And the number of people taking advantage of this is very, very low."
Congress passed the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act of 2014, allowing veterans to seek private medical care if they live 40 miles or more from the nearest VA facility.
The VA distributed eight million VA Choice Cards, approving 46,000 requests for care and handling 44,461 appointments,
Military Times notes.
However, only 125 veterans have sought a waiver to the rules to seek care at private facilities, VA Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson told Military Times.
Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, writing on CNN, said the VA's application of the 40-mile rule, whether or not the nearest VA facility can provide the treatment the veteran needs, denies veterans adequate choice of care.
Moran, who sponsored the Choice Act, told CNN: "The VA is denying the access the law was intended to provide and forcing veterans to choose between traveling hours to a VA medical facility, paying out of pocket or going without care altogether," and has authored the Veterans Access to Community Care Act of 2015 to correct the problem.
"When Congress passed the Choice Act, we called on the VA to live up to its commitment to care for those who have sacrificed for our country, and we will not back down," Moran wrote.
"We ought to always err on the side of what is best for the veteran, not what is best for the Department of Veterans Affairs."
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