Given the state of cost cutting mania in Washington how likely do you believe that this care will be funded out through 2020 especially since it’s discretionary?. Interesting article and well worth reading. The only way for the answer to be yes is to get involved in veteran advocacy issues.
The medical costs associated with VHA’s treatment of OCO veterans could, in CBO’s estimation, total between $40 billion and $55 billion over the 10-year period from 2011 through 2020, depending on the number of military personnel deployed to overseas contingencies in the future and the rate of growth of medical expenditures per person. That amount would be in addition to the $6 billion that VHA had spent on OCO veterans’ health care by the end of 2010. VHA is funded by annual discretionary appropriations (unlike Medicare, for example, which is funded by permanent appropriations); therefore, the estimated amounts would only be spent if lawmakers decided in the future to fully fund the care that OCO veterans are receiving from VHA under current policies. http://bit.ly/oabwqb
