‘Veterans Are Freer to Choose…’
WASHINGTON – The Wall Street Journal endorsed VA’s recently announced proposed access standards for community care in an editorial published today.
This represents the second high-profile endorsement of the standards this week, with four former VA secretaries underscoring their support on Monday.
Last week, the department announced the proposed standards, which will provide Veterans the choice to use community care at VA expense based on drive times to VA facilities and average wait times for primary and specialty care.
In its editorial, the Journal asked “one question is why anyone would oppose the plan,” as it helps Veterans get “health care faster and closer to home.”
The Journal underscored that, “The competition will put pressure on the VA to reduce wait times, which will matter in the incentive to seek outside care.”
The paper went on to address the myth of VA privatization:
“Behind all this is a debate about ‘privatizing’ the VA… Integrating veterans into the private health system makes sense for them and everyone else…The VA is especially competent at certain types of care like trauma recovery, and that’s what the VA hospitals and treatment centers could focus on…Yet if the VA is providing excellent care to veterans, competition won’t matter.”
Read the full editorial here.
###
Reporters and media outlets with questions or comments should contact the Office of Media Relations at vapublicaffairs@va.gov
Veterans with questions about their health care and benefits (including GI Bill). Questions, updates and documents can be submitted online.
Veterans can also use our chatbot to get information about VA benefits and services. The chatbot won’t connect you with a person, but it can show you where to go on VA.gov to find answers to some common questions.
Subscribe today to receive these news releases in your inbox.
More from the Press Room
News Releases
The Department of Veterans Affairs announced that Veteran trust in VA outpatient care has increased to 91.8% — up from 85.6% in 2018 (the first year since VA began conducting this survey).Veteran trust has increased during each of the past six years.
News Releases
The Department of Veterans Affairs will launch the Veterans Affairs Servicing Purchase (VASP) program, May 31 — to help more than 40,000 Veterans experiencing severe financial hardship avoid foreclosure and stay in their homes.
News Releases
The Department of Veterans Affairs has enrolled 401,006 Veterans in VA health care over the past 365 days — 30% more than the 307,831 it enrolled the previous year. This is the most yearly enrollees in at least the past five years at VA, and nearly a 50% increase over pandemic-level enrollment in 2020.
