Since its passage in June 2022, the bipartisan Honoring our PACT Act has expanded eligibility for Department of Veterans Affairs healthcare and benefits to veterans exposed to toxic substances during their military service.
While the VA believes the PACT Act may drive up enrollment in healthcare by nearly 84,500 veterans over the next decade, Jim Whaley, CEO of veteran advocacy group Mission Roll Call, told the Washington Examiner that he has concerns about the VA’s ability to manage an influx of new patients, given the department’s struggles.
Chief among Whaley’s concerns is the VA’s “exponential growth in spending” compared with the diminishing size of the veteran population.
In 2001, there were approximately 25 million veterans, compared with today’s 18 million veterans. The number of veterans utilizing VA care has increased by nearly 200% during this period, from about 4.4 million in 1995 to around 9 million today. However, the VA’s proposed fiscal 2025 budget of $369.3 billion outstrips the department’s fiscal 2001 budget of $48 billion by more than 700%.
Whaley noted that exorbitant spending has not mitigated increasing veteran homelessness and that suicide prevention spending has had little impact on the veteran suicide rate. Suicide mortality for veterans was estimated at 23.3 per 100,000 in 2001. By 2020, it rose to 31.7 per 100,000. The 2023 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report found that the veteran suicide rate increased 11.6% between 2020 and 2021.
Whaley named several additional factors that cause veterans to become “disengaged” from the VA, including frustration with the backlog of veterans who have waited more than 125 days for a determination about their benefits claims. The backlog now sits at 378,000 cases. The process for appealing rejected claims is also painstaking.
While VA press secretary Terrence Hayes told the Washington Examiner that the department issued 8.3% more appeals decisions in fiscal 2023 than in fiscal 2022, he did not respond to questions about how long veterans are waiting for their appeals decisions. Whaley said it is “not unheard of” for it to “take years to get [a veteran’s] disability addressed.”
Whaley also described physical distance from a VA hospital as being a major impediment to care. When achieving care becomes difficult, Whaley said veterans may “suffer in silence … or worse, spiral in a condition that is unhealthy.”
Hayes highlighted VA programming that “ensures that [veterans] get care from a community provider that is covered by VA” even if they do not live near a VA facility. The program he likely referenced, the Veterans Community Care Program, is an apt demonstration of the cumbersome nature of VA bureaucracy.
Ascertaining one’s eligibility for the program involves juggling a mind-boggling array of facts. In addition to living more than 40 miles from a VA facility, qualifying for care depends upon the last period in which the veteran accessed VA care, as well as subjective determinations such as whether it is in the veteran’s “best medical interest” to achieve care at a non-VA facility, and whether local VA service providers “meet certain quality standards.”
The VA’s 2023 suicide report found that 51.3% of veterans who died by suicide had not received services through the VA. The department also noted that this “underscores the need to continue to reach outside of VA into local communities and neighborhoods to connect with all veterans.”
Hayes noted that the VA has hosted 2,600 community events countrywide since the passage of the PACT Act, “often partnering with Veterans Service Organizations and other local nonprofits.” As a result of these and other efforts, the VA announced on March 29 that 401,006 veterans had enrolled in VA healthcare over the preceding 365 days.
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The VA has undoubtedly experienced other successes since the passage of the PACT Act. Hayes said the VA has been able to add urethral cancers to the 370 health conditions identified as being considered presumptively connected to military service in the PACT Act and is in the process of identifying new presumptive conditions. For veterans suffering from conditions that are not presumed connected to service, Hayes emphasized that the VA “evaluates claims on a case-by-case basis to determine whether we can establish service connection.”
Whaley was unequivocal about his desire that the VA succeed without presenting a burdensome drain on taxpayer dollars. By decentralizing the “behemoth” bureaucracy and “shifting the paradigm” to let nonprofit groups “lead the way,” he believes the VA could have a more positive impact on a greater population of veterans.
Beth Bailey (@BWBailey85) is a freelance contributor to Fox News Digital and the co-host of The Afghanistan Project, which takes a deep dive into nearly two decades of war and the tragedy wrought in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.