Political Quotes

“last week the Senate passed H.R. 3230, Veterans' Access to Care through Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act. Today, I rise to address some concerns my colleagues raised about whether veterans will be able to choose their own providers. Some may read section 301 of this bill to mean that VA is still in the driver seat. Specifically, that VA will be able to pick and choose which provider to contract with under this section and not offer veterans a true choice of where and from whom they receive their care. However, that is not our intent. Our intent is to give veterans the choice of where and from whom they receive their care without interference from VA. Beyond that, H.R. 3230 provides that if a doctor or hospital approaches VA and states they want to help alleviate the current access problems, VA would be directed to contract with that doctor provided they participate in Medicare. Because this legislation requires VA to pay these providers at the Medicare rate, VA would be able to implement a standard contract for the care and services veterans receive and would allow VA to expeditiously implement a contract with that doctor and get veterans the care they need as soon as possible. ____________________”