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President's 2010 Budget Request strongly
supports VA Programs
Funding Plan Improves
Access, Modernizes Technology
WASHINGTON (Feb. 26, 2009) - President
Obama's first proposed budget for the
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) expands
eligibility for health
care to an additional 500,000 deserving
Veterans over the next five
years, meets the need for continued growth
in programs for the combat
Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, and
provides the resources to deliver
quality health care for the Nation's 5.5
million Veteran patients.
The 2010 budget request is a significant
step toward realizing a vision shared by the
President and Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Eric K. Shinseki to transform VA into an
organization that is
people-centric,results-driven and
forward-looking.
"Our success must encompass
cost-effectiveness," Shinseki said.
"We are stewards of taxpayer dollars, and we
will include appropriate metrics to
accurately gauge the quality of our care and
the effectiveness of our management
processes."
If accepted by Congress, the President's
budget proposal would increase VA's budget
from $97.7 billion this fiscal year to
$112.8 billion for the fiscal year beginning
Oct. 1, 2009.
This is in addition to the $1.4 billion
provided for VA projects in the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
The 2010 budget represents the first step
toward increasing discretionary funding for
VA efforts by $25 billion over the next five
years.
The gradual expansion in health care
enrollment that this would support will open
hospital and clinic doors to more than
500,000 Veterans by 2013 who have been
regrettably excluded from VA medical care
benefits since 2003.
The 2010 budget request provides the
resources to achieve this level of service
while maintaining high quality and timely
care for lower-income and service-disabled
Veterans who currently rely
on VA medical care.
The new budget provides greater benefits
for Veterans who are medically retired from
active duty, allowing for the first time all
military retirees to keep their full VA
disability compensation along with their
retired pay.
The President's budget request also provides
the resources
for effective implementation of the
post-9/11 GI Bill -- providing unprecedented
levels of educational support to the men and
women who have served our country through
active military duty.
The new budget will support additional
specialty care in such areas as prosthetics,
vision and spinal cord injury, aging, and
women's health.
New VA Centers of Excellence will focus on
improving these critical
services.
The proposed fiscal year 2010 budget also
addresses the tragic fact of homelessness
among Veterans.
It expands VA's current services through a
collaborative pilot program with non-profit
organizations that is aimed at maintaining
stable housing for vulnerable Veterans at
risk of homelessness, while providing them
with supportive services to help them get
back on their feet through job training,
preventive care, and other critical
services.
Finally, the President's budget request
provides the necessary investments to carry
VA services to rural communities that are
too often unable to access VA care.
The President's budget expands VA mental
health screening and treatment with a focus
on reaching Veterans in rural areas in part
through an increase in Vet Centers and
mobile health
clinics.
New outreach funding will help rural
Veterans and their families stay informed of
these resources and encourage them to pursue
needed care.
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