By Leo Shane III, MilitaryTimes.com
Hopes for a bipartisan plan to overhaul the Veterans Affairs community care health programs were derailed in the House on Tuesday, in part, by the unconnected, controversial tax reform plan championed by congressional Republicans.
The VA legislation did pass the committee by a party line vote of 14-9 and is expected to come for a full chamber vote in early 2018. It would create a new permanent program for veterans to seek medical care outside the VA system at government’s expense, similar to a proposal pending in the Senate and another backed by VA leadership.
All of the Democrats on the committee were listed as co-sponsors of the legislation and in recent weeks had praised the measure as a responsible step forward balancing medical care access for veterans with the health care management role of VA physicians.
But most of that support came before the official Congressional Budget Office cost estimate for the measure — $39 billion over five years — and before the contentious tax reform debate on Capitol Hill.
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