Chuck Grassley: “I have heard from many Iowa veterans who are frustrated that Medicare does not reimburse for medical care provided by…”

“I have heard from many Iowa veterans who are frustrated that Medicare does not reimburse for medical care provided by the VA. While veterans who have a disability connected to military service have their health care paid for in whole or in part by the VA, veterans who do not have a service connected disability are listed as ``priority 7'' and are required to pay co-payments for the receipt of VA health care. Many of these priority 7 veterans are Medicare eligible, yet they cannot use their Medicare benefits to pay for VA health care. The number of priority 7 veterans enrolled in VA health care has increased greatly in recent years, especially in my state of Iowa. This is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the number of veterans eligible to enroll in the VA health system as priority 7. However, the current VA funding formula does not allocate resources to pay for the care of priority 7 veterans.”