President Donald Trump signed into law Saturday legislation that extends a program allowing veterans to receive private health care. <\/p>\n
The bill, which allocates $2.1 billion for the six-month extension of the Choice Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs, was signed by the president at his private golf club in Bedminister, New Jersey, where he is on a 17-day working vacation, according to the White House. <\/p>\n
The program, which was set to run out of funds earlier than expected in mid-August, pays for veteran visits to private doctors if they are facing lengthy waiting periods or travel times. The program was created in 2014 in response to a scandal at the VA hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, where patient wait times had been manipulated. <\/p>\n
VA Secretary Dr. David Shulkin has made it a priority to eliminate a rule requiring veterans to live at least 40 miles from the nearest VA facility or wait more than 30 days for an appointment to be eligible for the Choice program. <\/p>\n
The law also authorizes an additional $1.8 for the VA to lease 28 major medical facilities and to strengthen a program overseeing the recruitment and training of VA employees. <\/p>\n
Congress passed the bipartisan legislation before it began its August recess, but not before raising concerns among veterans groups and Democratic lawmakers about the trend toward privatization of the VA. <\/p>\n
Several veterans groups, including Disabled American Veterans and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, expressed concern to Congress in a letter on July 26. <\/p>\n
\"If new funding is directed only or primarily to private sector 'choice' care without any adequate investment to modernize [the] VA, the viability of the entire system will soon be in danger,\" the groups said. <\/p>\n
Shulkin has maintained the administration is not trying to privatize the VA, but to modernize and strengthen the agency's operations. <\/p>\n
\"President Trump is dedicated to maintaining a stronger VA, and we will not allow VA to be privatized on our watch,\" Shulkin wrote in an op-ed published July 24 in USA Today. \"What we do want is a VA system that is even stronger and better than it is today. To achieve that goal, VA needs a strong and robust community care program.\" <\/p>\n
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Trump Signs Bill Extending Veterans Health Care Program - Voice of America<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" President Donald Trump signed into law Saturday legislation that extends a program allowing veterans to receive private health care. The bill, which allocates $2.1 billion for the six-month extension of the Choice Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs, was signed by the president at his private golf club in Bedminister, New Jersey, where he is on a 17-day working vacation, according to the White House. Continue reading