Murray targets VA health care

WASHINGTON – The Bush administration underestimated the cost of veterans’ medical care both this year and last year, a new federal study says. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said Tuesday she’s worried the administration is doing it again in the 2007 budget.

At a Senate budget hearing, Murray questioned White House budget director Joshua Bolten about a just-released Government Accountability Office study that says the Veterans Affairs Department relied on unrealistic assumptions and insufficient data when putting together the 2005 and 2006 budgets. Instead of setting funding levels based on projected demand for medical care, the department tried to anticipate the amount the administration would request and cut costs accordingly.

That process left the VA nearly $1 billion short last year, and Congress had to come up with the extra money. Every year since 1997, the report notes, Congress has added money for VA medical care to the president’s budget request.

“How do you justify a VA budget request that is not based on demand of services?” Murray asked. “How do you send that message to our men and women in uniform?”

Bolten replied: “There was an error made last year. … I believe that the errors that were in the modeling process last year that caused the damage have been corrected.”

The problem has been fixed in the fiscal 2007 budget released Monday, which proposes a 9 percent increase in VA health care funding, he said.

But Murray said that much of the increase would be shouldered by veterans with more money, who would pay fees for health care under the Bush proposal.

“None of our men and women who signed up for service were told that you will get health care service based on your income later in life,” Murray said. “They were told, ‘You will serve our country and we will be there for you.’ “