Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough says he knows what’s to blame for his department’s $15 billion budget shortfall.
He told reporters on July 23 that the red ink is the result of more veterans using VA care than ever before and comes in direct response to an aggressive campaign that urges them to file for the benefits they earned.
McDonough said VA had initially anticipated processing more than 2.5 million claims this fiscal year, but is now expected to exceed that.
“We had been planning for an aggressive growth rate up to 2.4 million, but because we’re performing and producing at such a high level, we need to raise that authorized level one more time,” he said.
The authorization level raise will cover increased benefits paid under compensation and pension claims as well as increased utilization of readjustment benefits, including the GI Bill and Veteran Readiness and Employment benefits, McDonough said.
But in a July 17 letter to McDonough, Chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee Mike Bost (R-Ill) argued that Congress, by way of the American taxpayers, makes record-breaking investments in VA annually.
“But a $15 billion dollar shortfall is no accident. It is the result of horrendous, top-to-bottom mismanagement. I question how VA could have failed to budget for increased healthcare and benefits costs resulting from the PACT Act that we all knew were coming, and I have major doubts about some of the Department’s excuses,” wrote Bost. “The VA budget is serious business that has a real impact on veterans’ lives.”
According to figures previously released by VA, approximately 413,000 veterans have enrolled for its health services over the past year. That is a 27 percent increase in new enrollments from the year before.
During his monthly press conference, McDonough stressed that he repeatedly told Congress over the past year that the VA believed it had the funding it required, but if it needed more, it would “come back and ask.”
“I also said I will not stop outreach, and we will continue to allow our local leaders to make strategic hiring decisions,” he said. “And as they’ve done that, we’ve readjusted our full-time equivalent goal.”
And while the VA’s Veterans Health Administration 2025 budget plan anticipates a staff reduction of 10,000, its number of employees has increased this year.
“Primary care wait times across the system are down 8 percent. Wait times for mental health care appointments are down 9 percent. Overall offerings of health care appointments are up 16 percent,” McDonough said. “In light of more timely access to more care for more veterans, we’ve determined that we need to revisit the FTE number, and that’s what we’ve done.”
In order to cover this year’s shortfall, McDonough said additional funding authorizations would be needed by mid-September.
“This is not a new issue, and we’ll stay on top of this and we’ll make sure that if we need contingency plans, we’re talking about those and informing veterans as well,” he said.
McDonough would not say what would happen if the additional funding authorizations were not approved.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.