Advance Appropriations for Veteran's Health Care: Issues and Options for Congress
Abstract
The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) operates the Nation's largest health care delivery system, with about 222,000 employees supporting its mission. It is also the largest provider of health care education and training for medical residents and other health care trainees in the United States. In FY2008, VHA provided medical care to approximately 5.6 million unique patients and spent approximately $43.5 billion for medical care and research. A coalition of veterans' service organizations (VSOs) has been calling on Congress to provide VHA with a budget which is "sufficient, timely, and predictable." These organizations have asserted that VHA has underestimated its budget in the past. Moreover, VSOs contend that Congress has not enacted the VA budget by the beginning of the fiscal year. According to these organizations the delays in the enactment of the budget have exacerbated operational challenges--such as, differing capital expenditures, delaying recruitment, restricting acquisitions, limiting maintenance--faced by VHA network directors. To mitigate these issues VSO's have proposed that Congress change the funding process for VHA to an advance appropriation.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 28, 2009
- Accession Number
- ADA501090
Entities
People
- Sidath V. Panangala
Organizations
- Library of Congress