Bush Administration Turns Away Veterans at VA Hospitals

Received from: Keelan Sanders, Mississippi Democratic Party

Wednesday, January 25, 2006.

As you may know, more than 260,000 veterans who applied to receive healthcare at the Department of Veterans Affairs in FY2005 were turned away because of the Bush Administration's "cost-cutting" decision to limit veterans' access to VA hospitals, clinics and medications. Congressman LaneEvans (the Ranking Democrat on the House Veterans Affairs Committee)released the following state-by-state data which shows the number ofveterans who have been denied health care in each state. Also below, pleasefind an AP article that was filed as a result of Rep. Evans' release.

EVANS STATEMENT: Administration Turned Away 260,000 Veterans Who Sought VA Care in 2005Washington, D.C.

More than 260,000 veterans applied to receive healthcare at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in fiscal year 2005 but were turned away because of the Bush Administration's cost-cutting decision tolimit veterans' access to VA hospitals, clinics and medications. Rep. LaneEvans (D-IL), the ranking Democratic member of the House Veterans AffairsCommittee, is calling on President Bush to seek adequate funding in FY 2007 to allow these veterans to get care and medications at the VA. TheAdministration will submit its budget request to the Congress on February 6.

"There is no reason for the VA to give the cold shoulder to veterans whohave served our country honorably," said Evans. "The problem is not thatveterans are seeking health care from the VA, the problem is that theAdministration would rather bar the doors and ration care than put forth anadequate budget to cover the needs of veterans."

Since January 17, 2003, the Administration has barred access to VA care to new Priority 8 veterans -- those who do not receive monetary compensationfrom VA for service-connected disabilities and whose incomes are above anational and geographic income threshold. In 2005, the national incomemeans threshold for a single veteran was $25,842. The geographic meansthreshold for 2005 by state and county can be found at the VA's Web site at http://www.va.gov/healtheligibility/costs/docs/GMT_Income_Thresholds_2004.pdf . VA estimated that from January 2003 through September 2005 it would bar more than half a million veterans.

Data show that the VA turned away nearly 9,000 Illinois veterans who appliedfor VA health care in FY 2005 due to the Administration's enrollment ban [state-by-state list below]. Evans said he is concerned that the number of veterans shut out of VA health care is considerably larger because veterans are discouraged from even applying for care.

STATE-BY-STATE IMPACT OF ENROLLMENT BAN IN FY 2005:

Number of veterans in each state and territory who applied for VA-providedhealth care and who were refused enrollment in FY 2005 because of theAdministration's decision to bar access for new Priority 8 veterans.

AK 578
AL 5,004
AR 4,983
AZ 5,835
CA 17,378
CO 3,599
CT 2,651
DC 164
DE 877
FL 27,465
GA 7,062
HI 710
IA 4,762
ID 1,608
IL 8,944
IN 5,700
KS 2,878
KY 4,506
LA 4,893
MA 3,509
MD 3,051
ME 2,403
MI 5,942
MN 5,319
MO 5,552
MS 4,308
MT 1,956
NC 10,405
ND 927
NE 1,991
NH 1,434
NJ 4,808
NM 1,851
NV 2,111
NY 9,357
OH 9,764
OK 4,013
OR 4,162
PA 13,262
RI 1,045
SC 5,964
SD 1,201
TN 6,165
TX 19,204
UT 1,361
VA 5,459
VT 751
WA 4,584
WI 6,622
WV 2,550
WY 777
Guam/Puerto Rico/ Virgin Islands 1,059
Unknown/ Other Territory 793