{"id":13405,"date":"2018-12-19T21:26:38","date_gmt":"2018-12-19T21:26:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/12\/19\/with-deadline-looming-lawmakers-worry-about-new-va-community-care-rules\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T05:03:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T05:03:21","slug":"with-deadline-looming-lawmakers-worry-about-new-va-community-care-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/veterans\/2018\/12\/19\/with-deadline-looming-lawmakers-worry-about-new-va-community-care-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"With deadline looming, lawmakers worry about new VA community care rules"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 Department of Veterans Affairs officials have less than six months to put in place sweeping new rules governing how and when veterans can get <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/2018\/10\/02\/triwest-takes-over-va-community-care-programs-nationwide\/\" target=_blank>taxpayer-funded medical care in their community<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lawmakers are worried that they <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2018\/05\/23\/massive-veterans-policy-bill-heads-to-trumps-desk-but-results-will-take-time\/\" target=_blank>still don\u2019t have a clear picture<\/a> of what they\u2019ll look like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe Mission Act \u2014 we passed it with the best of intentions, but it could be a train wreck. too,\u201d Senate Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee ranking member Jon Tester, D-Mont., told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2018\/09\/26\/wilkie-touts-a-calmer-reformed-va-in-his-first-congressional-test\/\" target=_blank>VA Secretary Robert Wilkie<\/a> during a hearing on the issue Wednesday. \u201cIt is in your lap.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The new community care rules, mandated under legislation signed by President Donald Trump last summer, are poised to be the primary focus of veterans policy by lawmakers for months to come.<\/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\/05\/16\/sweeping-veterans-policy-bill-passed-overwhelmingly-in-the-house\/\" 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=\"196\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_16190749319719.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\">Sweeping veterans policy bill passed overwhelmingly in the House<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The VA Mission Act, expected to be taken up quickly in the Senate, includes new community care rules, a caregiver stipend expansion and more.<\/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\">For months, VA planners have been drafting the new rules largely out of sight with limited input from veterans groups and members of Congress, raising concerns among those groups about how far the rules will go in pushing health care funding from the federal system and into private-sector medical offices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Wednesday, VA Secretary Robert Wilkie worked to calm some of those fears in the last major veterans policy hearing of the year, just a few weeks before Democrats take over control of the House. He repeated his promises that the changes will help revolutionize veterans care by expanding access and flexibility, but not lead to privatizing large swaths of VA responsibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cVA will be the central node, no matter what that veteran decides to do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But several Democrats on the Senate and House Veterans\u2019 Affairs committees expressed concerns that initial drafts of the rules are being written so broadly they could allow near unfettered access to private care for veterans, a plan which they say could lead to rising costs and questionable quality of care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Incoming House committee chairman Mark Takano, D-Calif., pushed Wilkie to promise a full briefing on the new rules details before any large-scale public announcements, including a rumored inclusion in Trump\u2019s State of the Union speech. But Wilkie rebuffed the commitment, saying that Trump must give the final OK on the plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The president has made expanding veterans\u2019 private-sector care choices a key talking point in speeches over the last six months, sometimes incorrectly claiming that veterans already have a new set of rules governing those requests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Mission Act \u2014 passed with significant bipartisan support \u2014 requires VA to consolidate its multiple community care programs into a single, more comprehensive system to simplify payment rules and veterans\u2019 experience. Wilkie said the new system will be in place by June 2019, as mandated under the law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Currently, about 30 percent of all VA medical appointments are handled by physicians outside the VA system. Wilkie said he is using the Defense Department\u2019s Tricare standards for outside care as \u201ca guiding principle\u201d for the new work, moving away from current rigid geographic and wait-time rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt is critical that we deliver a transformed VA health care system that puts veterans at the center of everything we do,\u201d he told lawmakers.<\/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\">Committee members from both parties said they be closely watching. Republican members expressed concerns that without established outside care networks and flexible rules, the new program will be as overly bureaucratic as existing ones. Democrats questioned whether VA will retain enough oversight if the rules are too loose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Takano told Wilkie to expect more hearings on the issue in the months to come. Wilkie said he is committed to open communication on the issue, both with Congress and the veterans groups voicing concerns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Department officials say they are on track to put new veterans medical rules in place by June, but advocates worry they haven&#8217;t seen details so far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":31557,"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":[101,23,93,12,25,67,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3226],"class_list":["post-13405","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":"N6J6FUSNGVCUHHQZAWJ4KFCUBY","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/2018\/12\/19\/with-deadline-looming-lawmakers-worry-about-new-va-community-care-rules\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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