Comparing the Costs of the Veterans' Health Care System With Private-Sector Costs
Abstract
Legislation enacted in 2014 calls for the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) to expand the availability of health care to eligible veterans. That legislation provided temporary funding to expand VHAs capacity to deliver care and to increase the amount of care purchased from the private sector. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has conducted a limited examination of how the costs of health care provided by VHA compare with the costs of care provided in the private sector. Although the structure of VHA and published studies suggest that VHA care has been cheaper than care provided by the private sector, limited evidence and substantial uncertainty make it difficult to reach firm conclusions about those relative costs or about whether it would be cheaper to expand veterans access to healthcare in the future through VHA facilities or the private sector. Uncertainty about relative costs in the future is compounded by uncertainty about how VHA would structure contracts with private-sector providers.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 2014
- Accession Number
- AD1134462
Entities
Organizations
- Congressional Budget Office