Ayotte, Shaheen Vow to Continue Efforts to Improve Implementation of Veterans Choice Card Program

Press Release

Senators Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) released this statement following the forum they hosted today focused on the Veterans Choice Card program:

"Today's forum was an important step towards ensuring that New Hampshire veterans are able to use the Veterans Choice Card program to receive the timely care they need, close to home. We appreciated the opportunity to hear directly from veterans about the problems they're facing with the implementation of the Veterans Choice Card program, and from VA officials about potential solutions to those problems. Based on the feedback we received today, we also plan to facilitate an additional event that will allow veterans to hear directly from Health Net officials about how they can best utilize the Choice Card Program. We will continue to work with VA to ensure that they get this program right."

Today's forum was a part of a continuing effort by Senators Ayotte and Shaheen to ensure that the Veterans Choice Card program is implemented correctly in New Hampshire, the only state in the continental U.S. without a full service VA hospital. Last year, they included a provision in the VA reform bill that allows most New Hampshire veterans the option to seek care from local non-VA health care providers in New Hampshire, rather than having to travel long distances to receive VA services out of state. The senators have expressed concerns with the VA's roll-out of the Choice Card program in New Hampshire, which has caused confusion among veterans seeking to use the program.

In addition to pressing the VA secretary to address problems with the Choice Card program's implementation, in February, Ayotte and Shaheen sent a letter to President Obama expressing opposition to a provision in the administration's Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 budget that seeks to cut funding from the Veterans Choice Card program. The senators urged the president to faithfully implement the Choice Card program as Congress intended. Ayotte and Shaheen have also introduced separate legislation to protect the Choice Card program for the state's veterans. Under current law, the Choice Card program is authorized for three years or until its $10 billion dollar initial funding allocation is exhausted. The senators' new legislation would make the program permanent for veterans living in states without a full service hospital, like New Hampshire.

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