Nov 24, 2003

America's Veterans
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The Office of Management and Budget is opposing an additional $1.3 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs health care budget and wants to charge many veterans seeking treatment at VA a $250 annual enrollment fee and to raise the pharmacy co-payment from $7 to $15. American Legion commander John Brieden testified to House and Senate committees on Veterans' Affairs that Congress should fund the additional amount because health care for veterans is the delayed cost of the war. About 164,000 veterans in the lowest of VA's eight priority-treatment groups have been suspended from enrolling in the VA health care system since January because VA lacks the resources to serve them, says the American Legion. The Legion wants to switch the VA health care budget from discretionary funding, which Congress must approve each fiscal year, to mandatory funding, whereby federal dollars are allocated by a formula to meet the system's demands.