Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is pressing the VA to reduce wait times for community care appointments.
Today, Sens. Ossoff and Rick Scott (R-FL) launched a bipartisan inquiry into delays veterans are facing between referral dates and scheduled medical appointment at VA community care locations in Georgia and nationwide.
Sens. Ossoff and Scott are joined by Senators John Cornyn (R-TX), Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Ted Budd (R-NC), and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV).
“We receive frequent communications from our veteran constituents regarding lengthy wait times in both scheduling and receiving health care through community care providers,” Sens. Ossoff, Scott, and the group wrote to VA Secretary McDonough. “Eligible veterans have earned timely, quality health care; These delays must be urgently addressed.”
Sens. Ossoff, Scott, and the group are urging the VA to fully implement U.S. Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) recommendations to improve program timeliness and efficiency.
Since 2018, multiple GAO reports have recommended that VA ensure timely veteran medical care by establishing and analyzing feasible, discrete time standards. Of the six relevant GAO recommendations, VA has only fully implemented two.
Sen. Ossoff continues to advocate on behalf of Georgia’s veterans and their families.
In December, Sens. Ossoff and Kevin Cramer (R-ND)’s bipartisan Military Families Mental Health Services Act to help more military families access vital mental health care services became law as part of this year’s National Defense Authorization Act.
In October, Sen. Ossoff launched an inquiry with the VA into excessive delays with the VA Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA), which decides whether or not veterans are entitled to claimed veterans’ benefits and services.
Also in October, Sens. Ossoff and Mike Braun (R-IN) led a bipartisan coalition of 20 Senators in a follow-up inquiry to the National Archives of the United States (NARA) into the backlog of veterans’ record requests, requesting updated information on the status of reducing the backlog of record requests.
Click here to read Sens. Ossoff and Scott’s bipartisan inquiry to the VA.
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