US Senator Mike Johanns says our veterans are in need of serious improvements in the ways they access the healthcare they’ve earned.
Johanns says our veterans should have the freedom to choose where they get their healthcare.
He says in years past, the Veterans Affairs Committee has been enormously generous to the VA’s budget requests.
But with the recent problems involving long waits at VA facilities across the country, with some veterans dying before they receive care, Johanns says what he thinks the VA needs now is competition.
"If the VA can’t get the job done when it comes to veterans’ healthcare needs, in my judgment, our veterans who have fought for our freedoms should have freedoms of their own. They should be free to get the care they choose from private doctors. Or if they choose to stay with the VA, they should have the freedom to make that choice also.”
Johanns says he supported a bill that would do this for veterans who have long waits for VA appointments or long drives to VA facilities.
Senator Johanns comments came during his weekly conference call with Nebraska media.