[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 105 (Monday, July 29, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1449]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     H.R. 5250--VETERANS HEALTH CARE FUNDING GUARANTEE ACT OF 2002

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. LANE EVANS

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 26, 2002

  Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, today, I want to end my support as an 
original cosponsor of the ``Veterans Health Care Funding Guarantee Act 
of 2002'' being introduced by the Chairman of our Committee, Chris 
Smith. The bill, supported by all of the major veterans' service 
organizations, would create a mandatory spending stream for veterans' 
health care and medical construction in the Department of Veterans 
Affairs.
  VA medical care is one of the biggest domestic discretionary accounts 
in the federal budget. While Congress has historically improved upon 
inadequate Administration budget requests, VA has still suffered from 
ebbs and flows in its funding streams that often have little to do with 
the number of veterans served or the cost of the services they receive. 
We, in Congress often must work within artificially constrained budget 
limitations that do not allow the growth in funding VA needs or our 
veterans deserve.
  This has been particularly difficult in recent years in which the 
growth in veterans seeking care in the system, often for the first 
time, has been unprecedented and unpredictable. A mandatory funding 
stream, such as that which the Chairman of our Committee proposes, will 
bring increased stability and predictability in funding the health care 
system designed to meet the needs of our nation's veterans.
  The Chairman's bill would use medical inflation and growth in the 
VA's enrollment to ensure that these uncontrollable factors are 
appropriately addressed. The bill would also require a one-time 
``bump'' of twenty percent in the appropriation to adjust VA's 
baseline, deemed by our major veterans' service organizations to be 
significantly under-funded for the last several years.
  Our veterans' health care system is struggling to accommodate 
significant growth in use by veterans. Finding that VA is a source of 
inexpensive prescription drugs, aging middle-class veterans have 
recently enrolled in record numbers. About five years ago, lower 
priority veterans (those who are not service connected or medically 
indigent) constituted about 2-3 percent of the veterans' patient 
population; they now constitute about 30 percent of the 6 million 
veterans enrolled in the system.
  Appropriations have simply not kept pace with veterans' increased 
demand for VA health care. As a result VA has unmanageable waiting 
times and is neglecting its core population--the veterans with service-
connected conditions, with certain exposures or service or the veterans 
who are considered medically indigent. I recently received data from 
the Secretary of Veterans Affairs that indicates that there are more 
than 300,000 veterans either waiting for their first VA appointment or 
who have waited longer than six months for care. I believe that all 
veterans deserve access to their health care system, but we cannot 
pretend that they have this access simply because we allow it. The 
system must be funded to ensure that it is able to meet the demand 
veterans produce.
  I believe the Chairman's bill will address the problems Congress has 
chronically been unable to redress. I applaud his innovation and look 
forward to working with him on this bill.

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