Fully staff the VA
• IG staffing reports have consistently shown severe shortages at all but a few Veterans Health
Administration (VHA) facilities since beginning in FY 2014. The VA Inspector General FY 24 report once
again reports severe staffing shortages (VA OIG 24-00803-222).
• Current plans are to cut 80,000 jobs with the status of 2,400 probationary staff still unclear.
o Many probationary staff are skilled staff on probation due to promotions in the last year.
o The 62,000 hires in 2024 were in response to the PACT Act and an increase of 6.5 million veterans
potentially eligible for VA care.
• Administrative and support staff are essential to care making appointments, cleaning patient and clinic
areas, feeding patients, etc… and patient care cannot continue without them.
Stop using VA care funds for private-sector care.
• Costs for VCCP have risen from $8 to $31 billion between 2014 and 2024, now consuming a third of the VA
medical services budget, with private-sector care funds increasing by 17% but VA funds by only 5% in 2024.
• When VCCP spending is over budget, VA care funds are used. There needs to be a separate budget bill for
VCCP care.
• There are no controls on cost and quality in the community-care program, unlike the VA which has internal
reviews and is systematically reviewed by the VA Inspector General.
• The Red Team Report lists ways to decrease VBA spending including eliminating unnecessary tests and
treatment and patients returning to VA care after ER visits among other measures.
Support VA research.
• Life-saving VA innovations include the development of technology to create artificial limbs that mimic
natural arms and legs, the nicotine patch, the cardiac pacemaker, the first successful liver transplant, the
CAT (or CT) scan, new drugs and treatments for diseases such as HIV/AIDS, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and
osteoporosis and more.
• The hiring freezes, contract cancellations, and federal employee firings are affecting research including
ending clinical trials. Even researchers on Without Compensation Appointments have been terminated.
Ninety-two percent of veterans receiving their care at the VA trust their care. Veterans want problems solved, not
for VA care to be lessened or ended.
HR 740/S 275, the Veterans”.Assuring.Critical.Care.Expansions.to.Support.Servicemembers.(ACCESS).Act.of.868❶
Vote no on this bill if provisions allowing veterans to choose private-sector care as their preference, a pilot program
allowing outpatient mental health care without a VA referral and allowing the private-sector to count telehealth
visits as meeting standards but the VA cannot are omitted from the bill.
VA facilities must be fully funded and staffed to really be offering veterans a choice.
For more information contact SOVA at sovamail@yahoo.com.
Detailed information on these topics can be found on the Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute’s website:

Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute (VHPI).