A Republican bill introduced this week would force members of Congress and their staff to get health care from the Department of Veterans Affairs, a change aimed at forcing lawmakers to recognize the longstanding problems with the VA.
House and Senate lawmakers and staff are required to get their health coverage through the Washington, D.C., health insurance exchange created under Obamacare. They get access to gold-level plans, which means they pay 20% of their health care costs while taxpayers cover 80%.
But, under legislation proposed by Rep. Warren Davidson, an Army veteran and Republican from Ohio, lawmakers and staff would receive VA care at VA facilities “as if such members and staff were veterans.” Davidson says the point is to make lawmakers more aware of the problems with the VA.
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Rep. Warren Davidson, a Republican from Ohio and Army veteran, wants lawmakers to use Veterans Affairs care so they can become more familiar with how the VA needs to be fixed.
(Al Drago-Pool/Getty Images)
“Providing our veterans with the highest quality care is a bipartisan issue on which nearly all members of Congress agree,” Davidson said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “The VA is charged with fulfilling our nation’s obligation to provide veterans with the health benefits they have earned. To fulfill that obligation, the VA will require consistent and intentional congressional oversight.
“When I talk with veterans, they always stress the urgency surrounding veterans’ health care issues, particularly for mental health services,” he added. “My bill will ensure members of Congress have a stake in improving the VA health care system.”
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The VA has been under tight scrutiny since 2014, when it became clear it was systematically underreporting veteran wait times for health care to make it look as though veterans were getting timely care. That practice led to findings that some veterans died while waiting lengthy periods of time for VA care. And that prompted Congress to create a pilot program allowing some veterans to get care outside the VA.
Under former President Trump, the option of private care became permanent under the MISSION Act, but the Biden administration has come under fire for trying to downplay the private health care option. In a 2022 hearing, Republicans criticized VA Secretary…
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