Washington, D.C. – The House of Representatives approves a health care overhaul, helping veterans avoid long hours of waiting period.
Veterans Affairs Department
The Veterans Affairs (VA) Department has been overwhelmed with clients every single day, for so many years now. Hence, the House of Representatives has called for a health care overhaul in order to eliminate long hours of waiting period among veterans. The issue needed an urgent care, setting a 16.3 billion dollars for the repair of VA health care. The budget will the department in hiring a significant number of doctors and nurses to provide services adequately. Rewriting employment rules are also necessary, making it easier to assess poorly-performing and negligent senior executives. The agency provides health care services to 9 million enrolled veterans. It also provides disability compensation to another 4 million.
VA Bill
The new VA bill was sent to the Senate after incurring a 420-5 vote. The bill includes an emergency funding amounting to 10 billion dollars. This will aid veterans in obtaining outside care in urgent care clinic, if they fail to get prompt schedule with VA doctors. Another 5 billion will be allotted on hiring nurses, doctors, and other medical employees. The remaining 1.3 billion will be used in leasing 27 urgent care clinics. The former Chief Executive Officer of Procter and Gamble, Robert McDonald has sworn to lead the agency throughout the House voting.
Taking Over
McDonald took over the position from Sloan Gibson and Eric Shinseki, who resigned due to the growing issue of veterans’ long waiting period in getting health care. There were also reports that VA workers falsified records so as to cover up their work delays. With the health care overhaul, McDonald pledged to transform the entire agency, and promised to address systematic failures. He emphasized that an improved access to health care was on top of priorities, as well as the restoration of the agency’s integrity, accountability, and transparency.
Congressional Budget Analysis
A Congressional budget analysis estimated the $16.3 billion cost over three years, which was slightly less than the $17 billion estimate of the bill’s sponsors. The budget is also expected to repair the federal deficit in a 10-year period. This will allow more savings and further changes in the retirement program of the veterans. The Congressional Budget Office stated that reimbursements by insurers will also be included. The House Veteran’s Affairs Committee chairman, Representative Jeff Miller emphasized in a statement that the health care overhaul bill was a sort of an urgent care near me solution, urgently needed by the veterans, while addressing the scandals in the VA department.
