FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
Contact: Amanda Maddox (Isakson), 202-224-7777
Marnee Banks (Tester), 202-228-0371
Senate, House Veterans’ Affairs Leadership Call for Fix of VA Healthcare Applications Error
Error reportedly delaying benefits for thousands of veterans
WASHINGTON
– Leadership from both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House Committees on
Veterans’ Affairs are calling on the secretary
of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to extend VA healthcare
enrollment opportunities after a coding error reportedly resulted in
the incorrect closure of up to 440,000 applications.
U.S.
Senators Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and Jon Tester, D-Mont., chairman and
ranking member of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, joined with
U.S. Representatives Phil Roe, R-Tenn., and Tim Walz,
D-Minn., chairman and ranking member of the House Committee on
Veterans’ Affairs, to express their concern that the VA has not taken
enough steps to prevent this potential coding error from causing delays
in VA health benefits.
“Given
the enormity of the impact on veterans, we urge you to take additional
steps to further ensure veterans receive every opportunity to complete
their applications and that those applications
are not improperly closed due to VA error,” the members wrote to VA Secretary David Shulkin.
“To that end, we recommend
that the VA send an additional letter to those veterans who were
potentially impacted by the coding error, clarifying what additional
information is needed. Given the widespread reporting of this matter, we
believe that a clarifying
letter will provide veterans with some peace of mind on what is
actually still needed to complete their enrollment.”
The
error may have occurred when the VA requested more information from
veterans to complete their pending applications. The VA allegedly
switched two codes requesting different information.
The
Senate and House committee leaders are asking the secretary to send
another corrected letter to veterans who have incomplete enrollment
applications and not to close any health care applications
from these affected veterans for a year after this action is taken, so
that veterans have had the opportunity to provide the correct
information.
The members’ letter to Shulkin can be found online
here.
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The Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs is chaired by U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., in the 115th Congress.
Isakson
is a veteran himself – having served in the Georgia Air National Guard
from 1966-1972 – and has been a member of the Senate VA Committee since
he joined the Senate in 2005. Isakson’s home
state of Georgia is home to more than a dozen military installations
representing each branch of the military as well as more than 750,000
veterans.
veterans
