VA Seeks Additional Funding for Vets

R. James Nicholson, Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, announced on July 14 that the President had submitted to Congress an amendment to the administration’s fiscal year 2006 budget requesting $1.977 billion for higher-than-expected health care needs and to ensure that veterans continue to receive timely and high-quality health care. Nicholson had informed Congress in June that an unanticipated growth in the number of patients using the VA health care system, as well as an increase in the cost per patient of providing care, had created a shortfall of funds in fiscal years 2005 and 2006. “Veterans of every era can rest easy, knowing that access to what has been described as the finest integrated health care system in the country will remain undiminished—especially for low-income veterans, those with service-connected disabilities, special needs, or who have recently returned from combat,” said Nicholson.