Poll: Overwhelming Majority of Veterans Want Choice and Accountability at the VA
CVA-Commissioned Tarrance Group Poll Rebuts VA’s Assertion That Veterans Do Not Value Accountability, Do Not Want Health Care Choice
Arlington, Va. – A nationwide poll of 1,000 veterans and service members commissioned by Concerned Veterans for America (CVA), conducted by The Tarrance Group, and released today, confirmed that veterans continue to overwhelmingly favor increasing health care choices for veterans and bringing accountability to the VA, despite the VA’s claims that it is already providing veterans choice and taking steps to ensure accountability at the department.
One year after finding strikingly similar results, the poll found that whether veterans use the VA or not, their views of the VA are the same – there is a clear need for more choice and more accountability.
Veterans want choice when it comes to getting their care. Eighty-nine percent of veterans believe they should have increased health care choices, with 52 percent saying such choice is “extremely important.” Even if it means paying a little more out of pocket, 91 percent of veterans believe they should have the choice to seek care outside the VA.
Veterans also want accountability at the VA. Ninety-three percent believe the VA needs increased accountability, with 68 percent of those respondents saying that increase is extremely important.
The polling found that 91 percent of veterans believe reforming veterans’ health care in the “near future” is an important policy priority, with 50 percent saying it it is extremely important.
While the VA continues to ask for more funding from Congress, veterans do not believe the problems at the VA stem from a lack of resources, with majorities of veterans saying that lack of accountability and government bureaucracy are more responsible for the problems at the VA.
Highlights from the poll include the following:
- 91 percent of veterans say it is important to reform veterans’ health care in the “near future,” with 50 percent saying it is “extremely important”
- 89 percent say it is important for veterans to have increased health care choices, 52 percent extremely important
- 93 percent believe it is important for veterans to get the best care possible, even if it comes from outside the VA, with 68 percent saying it is extremely important
- 93 percent think an accountability boost at the VA is important, 64 percent extremely important
- 91 percent agree that it is important to give veterans more health care choices even if it means paying a little more out of pocket, with 75 percent saying it is extremely or very important
- 91 percent favor an extension of the provisions that allow veterans to seek care outside the VA if they live more than 40 miles from a VA facility or have waited more than 30 days for an appointment
- 88 percent favor extending these choice provisions to all veterans
CVA CEO Pete Hegseth released the following statement regarding the poll results:
“Today’s polling results make several things clear. First, veterans rightly want more choice in making their health care decisions. Dollars should follow the vet, not the other way around, and the VA has abjectly failed to make that possible.
“Veterans are also demanding accountability, and the VA continues to stiff-arm them. Secretary McDonald and VA leaders oppose commonsense accountability measures like the VA Accountability Act that would revitalize the department by giving leaders the ability to fire bad employees. The recent independent assessment of the VHA highlights not only veterans’ desire for accountability, but VA employees’, also. It is time to make those reforms reality.
“The need for VA reform—across the board—is a 90/10 issue. Veterans overwhelmingly want choice and accountability, and Washington, D.C., must wake up to this reality. Now is the time to act on behalf of our veterans. They and their families have sacrificed everything for our nation, and the least we can do is ensure they will be served with dignity and respect in return. It is our leaders’ moral obligation to act on their behalf and support the reforms that will help them take advantage of the benefits they so richly deserve. CVA has put forth proposals to make that possible, and we look forward to continuing to work with veterans and advocate for their interests.”
To view results of the poll, please contact John Cooper at jcooper@cv4a.org. Additional poll data, including questions and responses, is available upon request.
To schedule interviews with CVA experts, please email booking@guestbooker.com. For other media inquiries, contact John Cooper at jcooper@cv4a.org.
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Concerned Veterans for America is a non-partisan, non-profit, 501(c)(4) organization that advocates for policies that will preserve the freedom and liberty we and our families so proudly fought and sacrificed to defend.