[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 14]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 19110]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             COLLECTIONS FROM OTHER FEDERAL HEALTH PROGRAMS

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, October 2, 2002

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing H.R. 
5530, a bill that would strengthen VA's rights under law to collect 
reimbursement from certain third parties to cover the costs the 
Department incurs in providing health care to veterans covered by 
another private or public health plan. A number of these plans either 
refuse to reimburse, or are prohibited from doing so by current law. My 
bill, H.R. 5530, would fix this problem by eliminating these barriers 
to reimbursement for VA care.
  Those who pay attention to such matters are aware that the VA health 
care system is seriously under-funded to meet the demands being placed 
on it by our nation's veterans. As Chairman of the authorizing 
Committee for the Department of Veterans Affairs, I have worked hard to 
ensure that VA health care has the resources it requires to provide 
high quality health care services in a timely fashion. However, today 
VA health care is in crisis, as increasing enrollment and rising health 
care costs have resulted in hundreds of thousands of veterans being 
forced to wait months, even more than a year, to see a VA doctor. A VA 
report recently said that over 300,000 veterans are now waiting over 
six months to be seen in VA primary care. This is not acceptable.
  America's veterans did not ask us to wait while they finished high 
school, apprenticeships or college before being trained and sent into 
the European Theater of World War II as replacements for troops killed 
or taken prisoner of war at the Battle of the Bulge. They did not ask 
the U.S. Government to delay our call-up of WWII veterans in 1950 to go 
into the frozen confines of Korea to fight Chinese Communists along the 
38th Parallel, or whether they could somehow postpone the horrible 
suffering caused by extreme cold weather at the Chosin Reservoir.
  They were called, they answered, and they served. This is the way of 
America's citizen soldiers. Now, many of these veterans are calling on 
their government to fulfill their promises and provide them health care 
through VA--many in their final years. They should not be told to wait 
because we lack the resources.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 5530 would correct a number of deficiencies in VA's 
ability to recover the costs of care provided to veterans covered by 
other health plans. Since 1986, VA has had statutory authority to 
collect from traditional insurers such as Blue Cross-Blue Shield, 
Aetna, Mutual of Omaha and many others. These funds are used by VA to 
supplement appropriated funds to maintain high quality health care. VA 
also collects from so called ``Medi-gap policies'' that are an 
important adjunct to the Medicare program.
  But VA is unable to collect from the massive managed care sector, 
accounting now for over two-thirds of all health plans in the United 
States, including the managed care plans within Federal Employee Health 
Benefits Plan. Nor can VA collect from the Medicare program with nearly 
40 million eligibles. My legislation would require these federal 
programs to pay VA for care it provides to covered beneficiaries. This 
would increase the amount of money VA could collect by hundreds of 
millions of dollars each year--providing funds that are desperately 
needed to reduce these intolerable waiting lists and promote better use 
of all available health care resources.
  I urge my colleagues to support and cosponsor this bill that will be 
an important supplement to a cash-strapped VA health care system 
charged with caring for many of our nation's heroes.

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