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Today. Be it medicare, tricare, private insurance, fehpb for those federal employees and when they dropped that they would immediately go into the va system for two years. I want to ask you to stop and think about that for just a second. To a veteran on medicare, theyre going to drop their medicare, go into the va for two years . And then pay the penalty to get back into part b medicare . For an employee who has private insurance, theyre going to drop their insurance and leave their spouse uncovered because they see some advantage to being on va . Its estimated that 90 of those veteran who is are eligible but not enrolled in va have less than 50 disability rating. The threshold to where its va care comes without a copay. These are individuals who have already made a determination that the coverage theyre under is the best coverage they could have. If not, they would be enrolled in the va today. So, the fact that cbo now says with just the execution of this minor reform legislation it w ....
An audit revealed more than 57,000 veterans on too long waiting lists to be scheduled for medical appointments and in addition to that there are other veterans seeking care at va who were never even added to these wait lists. This is clearly unacceptable and must be dealt with immediately. I couldnt agree mor with senator mccain when he said on the senate floor in the debate, and i quote, if theres a definition of emergency, i would say that this legislation fits that. It is an emergency. It is an emergency what is happening to our veterans and the men and women who have served the country and we need to pass the legislation and get it to conference with the house as soon as possible. End of quote from senator mccain and i fully concur with what he said. Veterans in this country must get quality care in a timely manner and we need to provide the funding the va needs to accomplish that goal and to do it as expeditious a manner as possible. The simple truth of the manner is the va needs ....
Good afternoon, everybody. Thank you for being here. Before we begin, i would ask unanimous consent all the statements would be added into the records, all would have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks. Without objection, so ordered. Today we meet to begin debate and negotiations regarding the house an employment to the Senate Amendment to hr 3230, the veterans access to care act of 2014. Im going to recognize myself first and then recognize our cochair senator sanders. Following that conferees recognized in order of seniority alternating between the house and senate and majority and minority bodies. Eef will have five minutes at a maximum for brief remarks and absent conferee recognized the next available slot from his or her chamber. Though i recognize we have a lot to discuss, i would ask everybody to please be cognizant of the fiveminute time limit so each one of us has an opportunity to be heard on thi ....
Items that have to be addressed. Obviously, we must pave the way for the va to use nonva care to expand veteran access and clear the current backlog. But we cant just fix the problem by simply throwing more money at it. The va has had more medical care funding than it could spend during each of the last four fiscal years. To include 1. 4 billion as recently as 2010 and was set to carry over 450 million this year before dipping into those funds for the current accelerated access to care initiative. This is led to multiple testimonies by both va and nonva witnesses who have noted that the Biggest Issue is not a lack of funding but a welcome of accountability. For this reason, the legislation that we mold must hold individuals accountable who fail to meet performance standards and oversee mismanagement and neglect. The perverse incentives that led to the manipulation of scheduling data and secret lists must be eliminated. Any incentiv ....