Maine Senators Susan Collins (R) and Angus King (I) questioned Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA) Secretary Denis McDonough on proposed budget and staffing cuts, as well as on potential avenues for state-run homes to receive assistance from the federal government.
Sen. Collins focused her exchange with the Secretary on potential funding opportunities for financially-troubled state-run veterans’ homes and on the provision of transportation options for veterans living in rural areas seeking treatment at VA hospitals.
Sen. King, on the other hand, centered his questions on the Department’s budget and staff reductions in the face of increased demand from veterans nationwide.
During her exchange with Secretary McDonough, Collins pointed out that Maine not only has one of the largest per capita veteran populations in the country, but is also the oldest state in the nation, suggesting that this combination of characteristics contributes to “why our state veterans’ homes are so important.”
Collins went on to argue that despite the fact that the VA increased its per diem rates in 2023, this “has not kept pace with rising medical costs.”
Despite increased demand for the services provided by veterans’ homes in Maine, Collins explained that the state considered closing two of these facilities in 2022 but ultimately decided against it.
“Maine is not unique in this regard,” Collins said. “A recent report indicates that other veterans’ homes across the country have notified the VA of potential closures, 15 have reduced their bed capacity, and another four have already closed permanently.”
“What is the VA doing to support financially troubled state veterans’ homes?” Collins asked McDonough. “And what more can be done at the federal level to prevent closures or reductions in beds?”
In response, McDonough explained that the VA has prioritized funding for state-run homes, making bigger investments in these facilities compared to those that are commercially-run.
McDonough also detailed some of the other strategies that the VA has pursued to support state-run homes, such as covering up to 65 percent of facility construction costs, awarding nurse recruitment grants, entering into “medical sharing arrangements with consideration cost sharing,” and “continued clinical care education.”
“Nevertheless, I agree with you that there are big challenges out there, especially in two areas,” McDonough said.
The Secretary went on to explain that the Department has heard many of these homes are closing is because “they don’t have the staff, because the veterans that they’re getting are requiring more complex care.”
“So, greater funding for staff who can provide more complex care for those veterans is important,” McDonough said. “And this is something that we’re working, we’ll be more than happy to work with you in Maine on, and work with the Committee on.”
The second area of concern identified by McDonough was the increased cost of pharmaceuticals for veterans living in state-run homes.
“By tradition, the states take on the cost of those pharmaceutical treatment patterns,” McDonough said. “They also don’t have access to our more price-competitive formularies. So, we’d like to work with you on that, to figure out how it is that we address these significant costs associated with pharmaceutical treatments.”
Collins also asked the Secretary to consider the transportation needs of veterans living in rural areas.
“There’s also a problem with transporting veterans from rural areas to the one VA hospital that we have in the State of Maine,” Collins said. “And I hope that that’s something that we can also work together on.”
“I’ve been studying up on this since you and I discussed,” McDonough said. “So, we have some ideas on that. We’d like to work with you on those.”
Click Here to Read Sen. Collins’ Full Press Release
King largely concentrated his questions for McDonough on proposed budget and staffing cuts at the federal level, raising concerns that this would leave insufficient resources to serve the increased number of veterans interacting with the Department.
“There is a provision in your budget that sees a reduction in staff of about 10,000,” King said. “How do you justify that in terms of the growth in demand for services?”
“How do we be confident in this committee that we are not sacrificing the quality of service to our veterans if we are reducing staff at the same time demand is going up?” King asked.
In response, McDonough said that while he believes the budget agreement is “generous” to the VA, “it does force some choices on [them].”
McDonough went on to explain that “because of the strength of hiring in the last couple years,” they are “better sourced with clinicians.”
The Secretary also noted the increased demand for VA services, stating that over the course of the past year, the Department has gained “25,000 more new veterans, unique new veterans.”
“That’s a good thing,” said King, “I just want to be sure you have the staff to serve them.”
Click Here to Read Sen. King’s Full Press Release
Earlier this year, all four members of Maine’s Congressional delegation signed onto a letter asking the VA Secretary to provide an update on the Department’s progress toward finalizing a rule that would allow the VA to reimburse Maine Veterans’ Homes (MVH) for care provided to veterans with dementia.
[RELATED: Maine Pols Urge Biden VA Sec to Secure Funding for Maine Veterans’ Homes]
In September of 2023, the VA announced a proposed rule that would expand eligibility for reimbursement of this care and retroactively provide payments to state homes for these expenses dating back to January 2021, when a change a Department policy resulted in federal funding for this care being “abruptly ended.”
According to the delegation, the lack of this promised funding has cost MVH — and in some cases, veterans and their families — an aggregate of approximately $130,000 per month, totaling more than $3 million over the past few years.
I have an idea. Do away with the VA system. If you want to provide medical care for vets(I am one), have a low cost insurance program specifically for vets that allows them to get their care locally. That’s what the rest of us peons get with medicare. You could do away with that whole bureaucracy. Of course they don’t want to make gov’t smaller. No, No! More is always better to them.
Having served as a part time EMT I with a local ambulance service for 12 yearsI have seen the care that my pt.s received when I took them to a number of Maine hospitals. The care that I have received over the past forty years at Togus and at the Bangor VA clinic is consistently superior to what I saw at hospitals outside of the VA. At 80 I have had two operations, one at Togus, one outside of Boston. At both VA facilities my wife and I were treated with respect, wait times were short and results were positve.
I hope that the VA system continues, at least here in Maine, to receive the support from which I currently benefit.
Must pay for all the illegals
Neecee is correct !!!