{"id":18373,"date":"2019-03-28T17:26:18","date_gmt":"2019-03-28T17:26:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/03\/28\/no-delay-for-new-veterans-community-care-rules-despite-concerns-from-advocates\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T05:29:54","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T05:29:54","slug":"no-delay-for-new-veterans-community-care-rules-despite-concerns-from-advocates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/veterans\/2019\/03\/28\/no-delay-for-new-veterans-community-care-rules-despite-concerns-from-advocates\/","title":{"rendered":"No delay for new veterans community care rules, despite concerns from advocates"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Veterans \u201cchoice\u201d is happening in 10 weeks, unless critics can find a way to stop it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/02\/07\/va-says-its-has-never-been-more-cooperative-with-congress-so-why-cant-lawmakers-get-the-answers-they-want\/\" target=\"_blank\">Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie<\/a> this week expressed his confidence that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/01\/30\/new-va-plan-vets-facing-30-minute-drives-20-day-waits-for-appointments-could-get-private-sector-care-instead\/\" target=\"_blank\">new community care standards<\/a> expanding veterans access to private-sector physicians will be in place on schedule this June, regardless of ongoing concerns over the changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe statute is very clear, the timelines are very clear,\u201d he told reporters after a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/03\/26\/va-recommends-dropping-legal-challenge-over-blue-water-navy-veterans-benefits\/\" target=\"_blank\">Senate Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee<\/a> hearing on Tuesday. \u201cThe regulations are in place. I can\u2019t see them changing unless Congress steps in between now and June 6.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Congress may try that. Democratic lawmakers have expressed numerous concerns about the outside care expansion they say are still unanswered: how much it will cost; how it will affect other VA health care reforms; what standards private-sector physicians will have to meet; and whether it all amounts to a stealth privatization of the department.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/01\/31\/new-va-health-care-rules-trump-overreach-or-more-choice-for-vets\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"203\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/RYW32DW23VCERNJQSYTDCRN7KA.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">New VA health care rules: Trump overreach or more choice for vets?<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Debate over how to expand veterans health care choices connects to larger national fights over the role of government and private-sector partnerships.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">House Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee Chairman Mark Takano, D-Calif., said he\u2019ll find ways to halt those changes if his questions aren\u2019t answered soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019d rather make sure we get the VA to do the right thing rather than meet this time deadline,\u201d he said Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The VA Mission Act changes \u2014 often labeled as \u201cchoice\u201d by President Donald Trump, even though a separate VA program with that name already exists \u2014 amount to a significant expansion in the number of veterans who can receive private-sector health care with taxpayers\u2019 funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Published in the federal register last month, the moves could triple the number of veterans eligible for the care, expanding it to almost a third of the former military population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Veterans who live more than 30 minutes from a Veterans Affairs medical clinic or face a wait of more than 20 days for most health care appointments would be eligible for expanded community care programs. Wilkie and VA officials argue those standards fall in line with military health care and private sector benchmarks<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The updated standards would replace the 40-mile, 30-day guidelines currently in place for most veterans. For specialty care, veterans would have a 60-minute-drive or 28-day wait standard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">About one-third of all VA medical appointments are currently handled outside the department\u2019s health care system now, a figure that has held steady in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And VA officials have insisted that they do not expect a significant increase in the number of veterans who seek care outside the traditional VA health care system. They argue the new rules give veterans the flexibility to pick the best health care options for their situation, but assume many will still stick with the VA care they\u2019re already using.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe care in the private sector, nine times out of 10, is probably not as good as care in VA,\u201d Wilkie told the committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/01\/30\/new-va-plan-vets-facing-30-minute-drives-20-day-waits-for-appointments-could-get-private-sector-care-instead\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"181\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_21720922750-1.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">New VA plan: Vets facing 30-minute drives, 20-day waits for appointments could get private-sector care instead<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The draft standards could massively expand the number of outside medical appointments that taxpayers have to fund.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But opponents say the department\u2019s projections are flawed, and question their estimates that the moves won\u2019t ultimately draw funding from other VA priorities. When Wilkie noted this week that the department needs $60 billion in facility improvements nationwide in coming years, Senate Democrats asked why that money isn\u2019t included in the president\u2019s budget plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou have said no privatization, and your staff has also said that,\u201d Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., told Wilkie at a Senate Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee hearing on Tuesday. \u201cEverything that I&#8217;m hearing and everything I&#8217;m seeing says something different.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This week, 55 lawmakers (no Republicans) sent a seven-page letter to VA officials detailing concerns over how the new rules were crafted and their potential impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe are very concerned that his proposal will ultimately degrade the Veterans Health Administration for those veterans who prefer and rely on its health care services to lead more meaningful, healthy lives,\u201d they wrote. \u201cWe fear this proposed rule will be the first step towards dismantling the system.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wilkie has pushed back on that criticism, noting that the president\u2019s VA budget proposal calls for another big jump in spending next year. \u201cIt\u2019s not borne out by our budget.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Veterans groups have expressed concerns about the specifics, as well, and urged VA officials not to move ahead too quickly with the changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Officials from the Veterans of Foreign Wars said the department still needs to refine its standards for outside care quality and communicating advantages of VA care to veterans. Disabled American Veterans this week called for \u201cwithdrawing the current proposed rule and swiftly replacing it with a new proposed regulation based on more realistic, feasible and sustainable access and quality standards.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and a combat-wounded Iraq war veteran, asked the VA inspector general this week to look into whether administration allies manipulated the public comment process of the new rulemaking, further complicating the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/veterans\/2018\/04\/11\/vets-groups-and-lawmakers-say-theyre-against-it-but-what-does-privatization-of-veterans-affairs-really-mean\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"215\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_13102205629.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Vets groups and lawmakers say they\u2019re against it \u2014 but what does \u2018privatization\u2019 of Veterans Affairs really mean?<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The term will command much of the debate at the new VA secretary&#039;s confirmation hearing, but different groups have different definitions.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Duckworth said veterans advocates found \u201can unusually high volume of identical public comments\u201d designed to create a false sense of public support for the controversial rule changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf automated entities are spamming the public comment process, this not only wastes taxpayer dollars in the form of hours spent sifting through bot-generated messages, but it also threatens to drown out the voices of real veterans, veterans service organizations and other advocates,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even with those concerns, it\u2019s unclear whether those opponents have leverage to stop the new rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Both the House and Senate Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committees have hearings scheduled early next month to review the issue, but under current law the new regulations are mandated to be in place in June. Republican lawmakers have offered questions and potential improvements, but thus far have appeared uninterested in wholesale delays to the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFrom some comments from some of my colleagues, it&#8217;s almost like we&#8217;re giving some of our veterans too much choice,\u201d Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said in response to Democratic concerns about the Mission Act changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wilkie said failing to move ahead with the new rules \u201cwould no longer be a veteran-centric, patient-centric approach to health care.\u201d He said he\u2019ll work in coming weeks to explain more specifics of the changes, but isn\u2019t looking for any reason to slow them down.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>VA Secretary Robert Wilkie said the changes expanding private-sector care for vets will move ahead in June. Lawmakers still have doubts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":38955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":19,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[100,23,93,12,25,68,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3334],"class_list":["post-18373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress","category-veterans"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"HWOWXDKQ2NEXPI7ZIF7EBAZKSY","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/03\/28\/no-delay-for-new-veterans-community-care-rules-despite-concerns-from-advocates\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>No delay for new veterans community care rules, despite concerns from advocates - Army Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"VA Secretary Robert Wilkie said the changes expanding private-sector care for vets will move ahead in June. 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Lawmakers still have doubts.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/veterans\/2019\/03\/28\/no-delay-for-new-veterans-community-care-rules-despite-concerns-from-advocates\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Army Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-03-28T17:26:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T05:29:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Leo Shane III\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Leo Shane III\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/armytimes\\\/veterans\\\/2019\\\/03\\\/28\\\/no-delay-for-new-veterans-community-care-rules-despite-concerns-from-advocates\\\/#article\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/armytimes\\\/veterans\\\/2019\\\/03\\\/28\\\/no-delay-for-new-veterans-community-care-rules-despite-concerns-from-advocates\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"author\": {\n\t                \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/armytimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"headline\": \"No delay for new veterans community care rules, despite concerns from advocates\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2019-03-28T17:26:18+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-08T05:29:54+00:00\",\n\t            \"mainEntityOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/armytimes\\\/veterans\\\/2019\\\/03\\\/28\\\/no-delay-for-new-veterans-community-care-rules-despite-concerns-from-advocates\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"wordCount\": 1018,\n\t            \"commentCount\": 0,\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/armytimes\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/armytimes\\\/veterans\\\/2019\\\/03\\\/28\\\/no-delay-for-new-veterans-community-care-rules-despite-concerns-from-advocates\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/44255465394_0b6feb4a71_o.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"articleSection\": [\n\t                \"Daily News Roundup\",\n\t                \"Home\",\n\t                \"Middle Column\",\n\t                \"News\",\n\t                \"Newsletters\",\n\t                \"Pentagon &amp; 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