Members of Congress joined millions of other Americans Monday in remembering and thanking their deceased fellow citizens who served in the armed forces, especially those who died while serving.
It’s also a good time to reflect on the nation’s obligation to living veterans, and for the members of Congress to help meet it by committing to President Joe Biden’s plans for a massive upgrade to the Department of Veterans Affairs health system.
Biden’s infrastructure proposal, now at $1.8 trillion, includes $18 billion for badly needed physical upgrades to the VA health system, which operates 171 hospitals, including one in Wilkes-Barre Township and one in Lebanon, and 1,112 outpatient sites. Some of the funds also would go to upgrading state-run veterans centers nationwide, such as the Gino J. Merli Veterans Center in Scranton.
Senate Republicans’ $982 billion counterproposal Thursday did not include that funding. The money proposed by the president would fund construction of between 10 and 15 new hospitals.
According to VA Secretary Denis McDonough, the median age of private sector hospitals in the United States is 11 years, whereas the media age of VA hospitals is 58 years, and 69% of VA hospitals are at least 50 years old.
The agency, he said, is working on determining hospitals would be replaced first, based on the ages and conditions of facilities and the projected demand for services provided by each. McDonough said the agency foresees replacing up to 30 hospitals in all, calling the Biden proposal a “down payment” to modernize the system.
Also pending in the final site decisions will be the results of a congressionally mandated review of the entire system, modeled after the military base realignment and closure commission process, which is expected to take about seven months.
It should be a relatively easy matter for the VA to align its criteria for upgrades and construction with the commission’s conclusions about making the system more efficient, since the VA formula includes projected service demand for each institution.
The infrastructure initiative and the system analysis are complementary rather than contradictory. Congressional Republicans should include the VA proposal in their own infrastructure plan because the obligation to meet veterans’ health needs is national rather than partisan.
— Republican & Herald, Pottsville/TNS
