How Congress And The VA Left Many Veterans Without A 'Choice'
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A Must Read from NPR— together with member stations from across the country — NPR has been reporting on troubles with the Veterans Choice program, a $10 billion plan created by Congress two years ago to squash long wait times veterans were encountering when going to see a doctor. But as we reported in March, this fix needs a fix.

Around the nation, our joint reporting project — called Back at Base — has found examples of these problems. Emily Siner of Nashville Public Radio reported on troubles with overcrowding in Tennessee. And Monday, we reported on hospitals and doctors not getting paid in Montana and veterans getting snarled in the phone systems trying to make appointments in North Carolina.

Congress and Department of Veterans Affairs officials are in the middle of overhauling the program. Here are some reasons:

• The VA's most recent data show compared to last year, there are now 70,000 more appointments that kept a veteran waiting at least a month to get care.

• A March General Accounting Office report shows the Choice program had little impact on getting veterans to see a primary care physician in 30 days.

• Thousands of veterans referred to the program are returning to the VA for care — sometimes because the program couldn't find a doctor for them, and for 28,287 vets, because the private doctor they were told to see was too far away, according to data NPR obtained from the VA.

• The VA's own inspector general found that Colorado Springs, Colo., veterans were waiting longer than 30 days for care because staff at the local VA hospital was not adding them to the list of patients eligible for the Choice program.

The VA recently set up a hotline to help veterans who have issues with their credit because the programs hadn't paid doctors on time.

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http://www.npr.org/2016/05/17/478215589/how-congress-and-the-va-left-many-veterans-without-a-choice