Operation Just Cause
...for as long as it takes
Congress Eyes VA Health Care Cuts
ALICE ANN LOVE Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Lawmakers acting on veterans' complaints
that they cannot get needed health care are questioning recent
budget-driven staff and service cuts at Veterans Affairs medical
centers.
``Veterans report intolerably long waits for access to specialists,
critical staff shortages, uncoordinated care, and inequitable
distribution of declining budget resources,'' said Rep. Chris Shays,
R-Conn., chairman of a House subcommittee that looked into the
matter at a hearing Friday.
Despite rising costs, Congress has added little to the VA budget
for health care in recent years. To cope, the VA is reorganizing its
national system of hospitals and other medical facilities, which care
for about 3.1 million veterans.
Changes have included consolidating services within 22
geographic areas and shifting money between those areas in an
attempt to put the most resources where the most veterans live.
Veterans have complained that services in some parts of the
country - particularly the Northeast - have been trimmed too much. In Maine, for example, many veterans cared for at the state's only
VA hospital in Augusta now must travel hundreds of miles to Boston
because services such as cancer diagnosis and treatment have
been scaled back.
Neal A. Williams, a wheelchair-bound veteran awarded the Purple
Heart for his service in Vietnam, came to Washington from
Greenville, Maine, to tell lawmakers about a fellow veteran whose
cancer became terminal while he waited for a doctor's appointment
in Boston.
``Larry lost his legs as a result of his battle in the jungles of
Vietnam,'' Williams said of his friend. ``He will lose his life as a
result of his battles for appropriate health care with an under staffed
and under funded Veterans Administration hospital.''
The VA's deputy under secretary for health, Dr. Thomas L.
Garthwaite, said ``change is darned hard.'' But he told members of
the House Government Reform and Oversight subcommittee on
Human Resources that surveys show most veterans are satisfied
with the service they get.
Garthwaite said he believes the VA reorganization is going well
and reserve money is kept available for problems caused by any
``unplanned adverse events.''
He touted savings of $8.5 million, or 5 percent, on staffing costs at
VA medical centers from 1995 to 1997. Garthwaite also noted that
some of the money is being spent on more than 200 new
community clinics for routine care in places where veterans are
geographically isolated.
Nevertheless, lawmakers said they have raised their concerns with
VA Secretary Togo West, asked the VA's inspector general to
audit some veterans' hospitals, and will continue to scrutinize the
reorganization, including considering whether more money is
needed.
``Our concerns have not been put to rest,'' said Rep. Rosa
DeLauro, D-Conn.
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