Government
More money for veterans health
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Aug. 15, 2005
Congress in late July agreed to spend $1.5 billion to plug a shortfall in the health care budget at the Dept. of Veterans Affairs.
Lawmakers attached the funding to an unrelated appropriations bill that they sent to the White House before departing for the August congressional recess. President Bush's signature will clear the way for officials to use the money on VA health programs in the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.
Administration officials revealed in June that the department significantly underestimated the costs of treating servicemen and -women returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. That prompted Congress to scramble to approve extra money to keep the programs in the black. The White House has already altered its original fiscal year 2006 budget request to ask for an additional $2 billion for veterans health. Veterans medical services are set to receive about $24 billion with the amended request.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2005/08/15/gvbf0815.htm.