Washington, D.C. – U.S. Representative Pete Visclosky (IN-01) and U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly (D-IN) welcomed the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) announcement Tuesday that will ease veterans’ access to non-VA care under the Veterans Choice Program, but at the same time called on the VA to take additional steps to relieve the travel burden on northwest Indiana veterans. The VA said on Tuesday it would expand access to non-VA care for veterans by changing the calculation used to determine the required 40-mile distance between where a veteran lives and the nearest VA medical facility from the straight-line distance to the driving distance. Visclosky and Donnelly are again calling on the VA to consider factors like traffic congestion and transportation to and from
Donnelly said, “This announcement from the VA is welcome news and a good first step; however, the VA needs to do more to expand access to non-VA care for our veterans. The travel burden can be excessive for some of our northwest Indiana veterans who may face a lengthy journey, being forced to sit in heavy traffic to Chicago or travel to Crown Point for the shuttle to Chicago in order to receive care. That is why we believe the VA should consider factors including drive time and distance to a health care clinic that provides needed treatment. Our veterans should not endure excessive travel burdens simply to access the benefits they have earned. I will continue to work with my friend, Congressman Visclosky, on this issue and am hopeful that the VA will do the right thing and ease the travel burden on northwest Indiana veterans.”
Visclosky and Donnelly have sent two letters to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald, requesting that in allowing access to non-VA community health care, the VA consider travel times and the distance from appropriate care, rather than simply the straight-line distance from a veteran’s home to the nearest VA facility. Visclosky and Donnelly cited the travel burdens faced by some northwest Indiana veterans served by the Adam Benjamin, Jr. Crown Point Outpatient Clinic, but who must travel to the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center in Chicago for specialty or inpatient care. Donnelly and Visclosky have encouraged the VA to consider factors like traffic congestion and transportation to and from shuttle stops in determining a veteran’s total travel burden. On March 4, Visclosky and Donnelly wrote about their continued concern about the issue, noting the travel burdens faced by some northwest Indiana veterans. The March letter followed their initial letter to the VA Secretary on this issue that they sent October 31, 2014 with Senator Dan Coats.
The bipartisan Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014, which was signed into law in August, includes a provision that allows veterans to access non-VA providers if they live more than 40 miles from a VA health facility or face “an unusual or excessive burden” in accessing VA care. The Department of Veterans Affairs is in the process of translating the new law’s provisions into detailed guidance that will determine which veterans are eligible to see non-VA community providers using their VA benefits.
