Controversial VA Plan Scrapped

The White House has canceled a plan to allow the Department of Veterans Affairs to bill private health-care providers for treatment they provide to veterans for service-connected maladies. The plan, which had drawn heavy criticism from veterans organizations, was scrapped after members of several groups met with President Obama on March 16, and his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, two days later. Meanwhile, veterans’ advocates are pressing the administration to support a bill pending before Congress that would allow lawmakers to approve the VA’s medical-care budget a year in advance. If passed, advocates say, health care funding would be more delivered in a more predictable and timely manner.