WASHINGTON — U.S. Representative Randy Hultgren (IL-14) sent a letter to the Secretary of the Veterans Administration, demanding answers on why, more than a year after a major VA overhaul was passed by Congress and signed into law, the VA has still not implemented a key portion of the law, the Veterans Choice Program.
Through the Veterans Choice Program, service men and women can receive vital home care services that are critical to follow-up care and medication adherence assistance, especially for disabled veterans and those without access to transportation. Yet local VA facilities are still refusing to work with new providers to get veterans the care they need.
“My conversations with the VA have yielded only excuses,” said Rep. Hultgren in a speech delivered on the House floor. “Our vets deserve results. How many veterans are waiting for physician visits? How can the VA sit on its hands while our nation’s veterans wait and suffer? I ask my colleagues to join me—let’s be a voice for our veterans and implore the VA to give these heroes access to and reimbursement for the care they need and deserve.”
In his letter to the VA Secretary, Rep. Hultgren writes: “To me, it seems as if the VA is simply obstructing home care services for veterans either illegally, indolently, or both…If ‘the VA is determined to provide exceptional, high-quality care and services for our veterans,’ as you said in your initial response letter to me, why aren’t you following through on your promise to these men and women and promptly addressing this issue?”
