WASHINGTON (AP) — A bill proposed by four Senate
Republicans would give veterans more flexibility to see a private doctor
if they are forced to wait too long for an appointment at a Veterans
Affairs hospital or clinic.
Arizona Sen. John McCain and three
other GOP senators introduced the bill Tuesday, the latest response in
Congress to a furor over patient delays and reports of falsified records
at VA health facilities nationwide.
A federal investigation into
the troubled Phoenix VA Health Care System found that about 1,700
veterans in need of care were "at risk of being lost or forgotten" after
being kept off an electronic waiting list. The investigation also found
broad and deep-seated problems throughout the sprawling health care
system, which provides medical care to about 6.5 million veterans
annually.
A document released Tuesday by Sens. Pat Roberts and
Jerry Moran, both Kansas Republicans, showed that at least 108 veterans
waited more than 90 days for appointments with a primary care doctor at
nine hospitals and 51 outpatient clinics in Kansas, Missouri and parts
of four other states: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Arkansas.
A
bill being crafted by the Republican chairman of the House Veterans
Affairs Committee would require the VA to offer outside care to veterans
who cannot be seen within 30 days. And the Senate Veterans Affairs
Committee’s chairman, an independent, has proposed a bill to pay for
veterans’ appointments at community health centers and military
hospitals or with private doctors if they cannot get a timely
appointment at a VA facility.
Meanwhile, Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla.,
chairman of the House panel, asked acting VA Secretary Sloan Gibson on
Tuesday to respond within a week to a month-old subpoena demanding
documents related to an investigation of alleged falsified records and
other problems that have surfaced in the past six weeks across the
1,700-facility VA health care system.
Miller said is frustrated by
the "stonewalling" to his request by the department under former
Secretary Eric Shinseki, who resigned under fire last Friday.
"Right
now, Secretary Gibson has a chance to begin to repair the reputation of
a department that has gained notoriety for its secrecy and duplicity
with the public and indifference to the constitutionally mandated
oversight responsibilities of Congress," Miller said.
A career
banker, the 61-year-old Gibson had served as deputy VA secretary since
February. He came to the department after serving as president and chief
executive of the USO, the nonprofit organization that provides
programs, services and entertainment to U.S. troops and their families.
McCain
and the other GOP senators said their bill would make it easier for
veterans to get care. It would direct all 150 VA hospitals to publish on
their websites the current wait time for an appointment and require the
VA to establish a public database of patient safety, quality of care
and outcomes at each hospital.
Veterans who can’t get a VA
appointment within 30 days or who live at least 40 miles from a VA
clinic or hospital could go to any doctor who participates in Medicare
or the military’s TRICARE program. The bill is co-sponsored by
Republican Sens. Jeff Flake of Arizona, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and
Richard Burr of North Carolina. Burr is the senior Republican on the
veterans panel.
"I’ve always believed that veterans could choose
and should choose" their doctors, McCain said. He added that he first
proposed private care for veterans during his 2008 presidential bid.
"Give these veterans a choice card so they can present it to the health
care provider," he said Tuesday.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.,
chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, proposed legislation
this week that would allow veterans who can’t get timely appointments
with VA doctors to go to community health centers, military hospitals or
private doctors. The bill also would authorize the VA to lease 27 new
health facilities in 18 states and give the VA secretary authority to
remove senior executives within 30 days of being fired for poor job
performance, eliminating lengthy appeals.
The House passed a
similar bill last month, but Sanders said he worried that version would
allow "wholesale political firings" and even dismissal of
whistleblowers.
Sanders and McCain are scheduled to meet privately
Wednesday to try to reach agreement on legislative language related to
veterans health.