VA’s “Choice Card” Program Doesn’t Offer Veterans a Real Choice in Care
Arlington, Va. – Darin Selnick, Senior Veterans Affairs Advisor for Concerned Veterans for America (CVA) and Executive Director of CVA’s Fixing Veterans Health Care Taskforce, today testified before the Senate Veterans Affairs’ Committee hearing on the implementation and future of the Veterans Choice Card Program.
Selnick will provide similar testimony on Wednesday before the House Veterans Affairs Committee at 10:00 a.m. ET.
In his prepared remarks to the Senate panel, Selnick noted that the current choice program doesn’t offer veterans a true choice in where they get their health care and pointed to the Veterans Independence Act—the recommendations of CVA’s bipartisan Fixing Veterans Health Care Taskforce—as the solution to the VA’s current failing health care system.
Selnick said:
“The current rules pertaining to choice do not represent real choice. Instead they require veterans to obtain approval from VA before they are able to make a choice. Veterans should not have to ask for permission to select their health care provider.
“The VA implementation of the choice program has been a failure. …
“Choice and competition are the bedrock of today’s health care system. We choose our health care insurance, provider and primary care physician. Health care organizations provide quality, timely and convenient care, because they know if they don’t, they will lose their patients to someone else. In order to fix the VA health care system, both choice and competition must be injected into system.
“The outmoded VA health care system that currently exists needs to become a 2015 health care system. We believe the Veterans Independence Act is the roadmap and solution to do just that.”
Click here to read Darin’s full testimony.
During his testimony, Darin referenced a national poll of veterans that CVA commissioned last fall. The results showed:
- 90% favored efforts to reform care
- 88% said eligible veterans should be given the choice to receive medical care from any source they choose
- 77% said they would give veterans more choices, even if it involved higher out-of-pocked costs
To schedule a TV interview with Darin Selnick, Senior Veterans Affairs Advisor for Concerned Veterans for America and Executive Director of CVA’s Fixing Veterans Health Care Taskforce, or other CVA experts, please email booking@guestbooker.com.
For other media inquiries, contact Emily Laird at elaird@cv4a.org.
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