On Tuesday, a proposed bill has been introduced by Arizona Sen. John McCain and three other GOP senators to address the brouhaha over the long turnaround time at Veterans Affairs medical facilities.
The Associated Press said that a federal probe into the beleaguered Phoenix VA Health Care System revealed that around 1,700 veterans who required care were at risk of being forgotten or lost after they were kept off from a secret electronic waiting list. The probe also revealed broad and deep-seated problems in the system, despite tasked to provide medical care to around 6.5 million veterans on a yearly basis.
According to McCain and his co-authors, the bill will allow the veterans to have ease in getting care. The proposed bill would reportedly direct all 150 medical facilities to publish the current wait time for an appointment on their websites. Moreover, the bill also included a measure that, when enforced, would create a public database detailing patient safety, quality of care and outcomes per medical facility.
McCain stated about the proposal, "I've always believed that veterans could choose and should choose (their doctors). Give these veterans a choice card so they can present it to the health care provider."
Independent Senator Bernie Sanders, who currently is the chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, has proposed a similar legislation this week. Sanders' bill, however, includes a provision wherein it will authorize the VA to lease 27 new health facilities in 18 states and award the VA secretary with power to sack senior executives for poor performance. AP noted that Sanders' proposal bear similarities to a passed House bill last month, but the senator said the House version will allow dismissal of whistleblowers and "wholesale political firings."
Sanders and McCain are expected to meet on Wednesday in private to reach an agreement on legislative language that is related to veterans health.
