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VA MISSION Act The Facts Take Action

DEFEND THE MISSION ACT!

Veterans injured in the line of service were promised they’d be cared for after serving our country. But too often, that promise isn’t fulfilled.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is often a barrier to veterans seeking timely, quality health care, and has even suggested constricting eligibility for accessing community care, a crucial option for veterans who face long waits and drives to get care through the VA.

That is unacceptable.

The VA MISSION Act was signed into law to give more veterans access to medical care, whether inside or outside the VA. The Guaranteeing Healthcare Access to Personnel Who Served (GHAPS) Act would write into law the standards for accessing non-VA care, providing veterans with clarity and certainty about the VA MISSION Act and their care options.

Defend the VA MISSION Act and eligibility for veterans seeking care!

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THE VA MISSION Act

In 2014, it was revealed that hundreds of thousands of veterans were waiting weeks, even months, for medical appointments at Department of Veterans Affairs health facilities. Additionally, VA employees across the country placed many veterans on secret waitlists to hide the department’s extensive wait times and some of those veterans even died while waiting to see a doctor.

Four years later, action was finally taken to ensure veterans can get access to timely care – the VA MISSION Act was signed into law. This milestone legislation gives veterans more choice over where they access their medical care, whether at a VA facility or from a provider in their community. Major provisions of the law include:

CARE FOR VETERANS The VA MISSION Act combines multiple community care programs into one, less-confusing program. The law also requires the VA to establish new quality and access standards for non-VA care. These measures will simplify access to community care so veterans aren’t stuck in endless bureaucracy.

EXPANDED CAREGIVER PROGRAM The VA MISSION Act will phase-in access to the VA caregivers program to all veterans who have incurred or aggravated serious injuries while serving in the active duty military, not just those serving since September 11, 2001.

MANAGEMENT OF THE VA The VA MISSION Act requires that the VA review the current distribution and utilization of its medical center and clinics to determine whether or not they are properly positioned and structured to serve the veteran population. This will allow the VA to put its assets and resources in the locations that will benefit veterans most.

THE FACTS

1.
MYTH: The VA MISSION Act will privatize the VA health care system.

FACT: The VA MISSION Act does NOT privatize the VA health care system. The VA MISSION Act works to better integrate the VA with community health care providers, fix structural issues with the VA’s outside care programs, and ultimately improve access to care while expanding the health care options available to veterans through the VA, all while maintaining the VA’s vital heath care infrastructure for those veterans who choose to receive care within the VA.

The VA health care system should remain a center of excellence for veterans, but the MISSION Act should be implemented in a way that puts the veteran first rather than the VA bureaucracy. If a veteran opts to receive care in their local community or at a VA facility, that should be their choice, not the VA’s.

2.
MYTH: The VA MISSION Act is the product of right-leaning groups and lawmakers who only want to reduce the size and scope of the VA.

FACT: The VA MISSION Act was endorsed by over 30 veteran service organizations (VSO), was passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, and signed into law by President Trump in June 2018.

3.
MYTH: Giving veterans more access to community care is cost prohibitive.

FACT: Giving veterans more access to community care is only cost prohibitive if the VA doesn’t implement commonsense cost-mitigation strategies and measures. Delivering quality health care to our nation’s veterans is at the heart of the VA’s mission. Instead of limiting choice for our nation’s veterans under the pretense of fiscal restraint, the VA and lawmakers can implement significant cost mitigation measures and institute substantive reforms to improve the VA system while ensuring veterans can get the care and benefits they have earned and deserve.

4.
MYTH: The VA’s new access standards for the new community care program are too broad and will hurt the existing VA system as more veterans go into the community for care.

FACT: The VA’s access standards developed by the VA are similar to those successfully used in the military’s successful TRICARE program – which has a government-run component and a private sector component. Veterans still keep the VA as a viable option while allowing more veterans to access care in the community.

The VA MISSION Act was ultimately developed to improve access to care while expanding the health care options available. Opponents know, however, that giving veterans more choices means the VA’s grip on the reins of veterans’ health care will loosen, as resources begin to follow the veteran, not prop up the bureaucracy. What’s important, though, is not where the resources go, but that they go to deliver the best care to the veterans who need it.

It’s not about undermining or destroying the VA. Rather, it is about the veteran. It’s about making the VA one of the options for veterans seeking quality care, not the only option. It is important to note, under the law and these draft standards, veterans will still have the option to stay in the VA health care system, and it should be a quality option for them.

PROTECT ACCESS TO CARE

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!

Veterans injured in the line of service were promised they’d be cared for after serving our country. But too often, that promise isn’t fulfilled.

That is unacceptable.

The VA MISSION Act was signed into law to give more veterans access to medical care, whether inside or outside the VA. The Guaranteeing Healthcare Access to Personnel Who Served (GHAPS) Act would write into law the standards for accessing non-VA care, providing veterans with clarity and certainty about the VA MISSION Act and their care options.

Defend the VA MISSION Act and eligibility for veterans seeking care!

Take Action

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