Morning Jolt: Today, an Easily-Overlooked Vote on Choice in Veterans Health Care

Remember the Veterans Choice program, discussed in my recent article about reforms at the Department of Veterans Affairs?

In 2014, in response to the scandal of veterans in Phoenix and other locations facing interminable waits for needed care, Congress and the Obama administration established the Veterans Choice Program (VCP), allowing veterans who live more than 40 miles from a VA health clinic or who face a wait of more than 30 days for an appointment to get treatment from non-VA facilities. The VCP was intended as a pilot program and scheduled to end this August, but earlier this year President Trump signed legislation extending its duration until funding runs out.

Demand for the program has increased rapidly, almost a 50 percent increase over last year's number of appointments. In the first six months, veterans made eight million community care appointments through the program. Current funding is projected to run out by the second week of August.

Today the House is scheduled to vote on a bill that will provide another $2 billion in funding for the program by diverting funds from other parts of the VA budget.

Eight veterans ...

July 24 2017

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Today, an Easily-Overlooked Vote on Choice in Veterans Health Care Jim Geraghty Remember the Veterans Choice program, discussed in my recent article about reforms at the Department of Veterans Affairs? In 2014, in response to the scandal of veterans in Phoenix and other locations facing interminable waits for needed care, Congress and the Obama administration established the Veterans Choice Program (VCP), allowing veterans who live more than 40 miles from a VA health clinic or who face a wait of more than 30 days for an appointment to get treatment from non-VA facilities. The VCP was intended as a pilot program and scheduled to end this August, but earlier this year President Trump signed legislation extending its duration until funding runs out. Demand for the program has increased rapidly, almost a 50 percent increase over last year's number of appointments. In the first six months, veterans made eight million community care appointments through the program. Current funding is projected to run out by the second week of August. Today the House is scheduled to vote on a bill that will provide another $2 billion in funding for the program by diverting funds from other parts of the VA budget. Eight veterans ... READ MORE Stop Enjoying Summer, Climate Activists Advise Julie Kelly The Merchants of Misery — a.k.a., climate scientists — are working overtime to shame you about all the pleasures you're enjoying this summer and how your selfish indulgences will cause the... Got Opportunity? Kathryn Jean Lopez Got Opportunity? ADVERTISEMENT The Left's Backward-Looking Racial Narrative Jason Riley Editor's Note: The following is an excerpt of Jason Riley's False Black Power? It is excerpted here with permission. President Barack Obama traveled to Alabama on March 7, 2015, to deliver a... Dear Betsy: End the Kafkaesque Kangaroo Courts of Title IX Tiana Lowe Of all of Donald Trump's cabinet appointees, few have attracted as much ire as Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Nor does any other Trump secretary face as troubling a terrain to navigate, save... The Unconventional Anthony Scaramucci John Fund The news media are dismissing the new White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci much the same way they derided Donald Trump. "A P.T. Barhum in a Ferragamo tie" is how the New York... ADVERTISEMENT Pax Romana: War, Peace and Conquest in the Roman World Adrian Goldsworthy 'Goldsworthy brings a wonderful vitality to his subject; his account possesses an immediacy usually associated with contemporary history. The reader is treated to an enthralling view of a highly complex system of governance' - Gerard DeGroot, The Times (London) LEARN MORE Protests in Venezuela Faces of Comic-Con ADVERTISEMENT Follow Us & Share 215 Lexington Ave., New York, NY, 10016, USA Your Preferences | Unsubscribe | Privacy View this e-mail in your browser.