FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 12, 2024
April 12, 2024
Contact:
Tim Kauffman
202-639-6405/202-374-6491
[email protected]
AFGE Calls on VA to Reduce Reliance on Private, For-Profit Health Care Providers Following Damning Report
Categories:
VA
Panel of health care leaders finds veterans’ health care is suffering due to VA outsourcing
WASHINGTON – American Federation of Government Employees National President Everett Kelley today issued the following statement in response to a report by prominent health care leaders requested by the Department of Veterans Affairs concluding that veterans’ care is at risk due to uncontrolled outsourcing by the agency:
“At long last, the report of the VA’s own independent expert ‘Red Team’ affirms what AFGE has been saying for years – that the VA’s unbridled use of private, for-profit care for veterans is corroding the agency, wasting billions of taxpayer dollars, and sending veterans outside the VA system for worse care at higher cost. It is weakening the VA’s hospital network and eroding the VA’s critical mission in training physicians who serve all Americans, not just veterans.
“As the report notes, more than 40% of our nation’s heroes are now being sent outside the VA’s proven network of hospitals and clinics to seek their care, at an annual cost to taxpayers of nearly $30 billion, with no guarantee that this care meets VA standards for safety and quality – or even that the private care is any closer or faster than what VA offers.
“It is long past time to curtail this dangerous boondoggle and rebuild a VA that can deliver the safe, high-quality, cost-effective coordinated in-house care that our veterans have earned and that they deserve. The VA should initiate immediate rulemaking and policy changes to reduce indiscriminate and uncontrolled patient referrals to the private sector.”
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