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HRD-81-77 1 (1981-07-02)

handle is hein.gao/gaobabcef0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 




BY THE COMPTROLLER GENERAL

Report To The Honorable William RELEASED

Proxmire, United States Senate

OF THE UNITED STATES





Cost Of VA Medical Care To

Ineligible Persons Is High And

Difficult To Recover



During the 27-month period ended December
31, 1979, the Veterans Administration at-
tempted to collect $15 million from persons
who had received medical care in VA facil-
ities, but who were not eligible for VA ben-
efits. VA recovered $1.2 million of this amount                       115817
and wrote off $6.5 million as uncollectible.

A major cause of the problem involving inel-
igible persons is VA's policy of not denying
medical care to persons pending positive de-
termination of their entitlement to VA ben-
efits. For many of the cases GAO reviewed,
it took VA a long time to determine an in-
dividual's eligibility status. GAO found that
once VA had provided care to ineligible per-
sons, collection actions to recover the costs
were generally unsuccessful.

GAO recommends that VA (1) provide med-
ical care to individuals whose entitlement to
veteran benefits cannot be determined at the
time of application only when their medical
condition requires prompt medical attention,
and (2) strengthen the eligibility determination
process and collection of debts.







                                                                        D-81-77
                                                                   JULY 2, 1961

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