Maurice Hinchey: “the Veterans' Equitable Resource Allocation system, known as VERA, may have started out with good intentions. The…”

“the Veterans' Equitable Resource Allocation system, known as VERA, may have started out with good intentions. The purpose was to shift funds in accord with shifts in veterans' populations, and more specifically, with veterans' needs. If there are more veterans needing health care services in Florida today than there were 20 years ago, and we know that that is true, then Florida should be getting a larger share of the VA health budget than it received previously. That is common sense, and I have no argument with that principle. But I do have an argument with the actual plan for reallocation, the VERA plan, and with its consequences. Many of us were very disturbed in January of 1997 when the VA first gave us figures about how much would be cut from its health care spending in our regions to fit the VERA plan. We had been hearing from our veterans that the quality of care was not what it ought to be in many places, and we were concerned that these new cuts would hurt our veterans even more.”