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GAO-06-430R 1 (2006-02-06)

handle is hein.gao/gaocrptatcz0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Sai Accountability * Integrity * Reliability United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548 February 6, 2006 The Honorable Steve Buyer Chairman Committee on Veterans' Affairs House of Representatives The Honorable Daniel K. Akaka Ranking Minority Member Committee on Veterans' Affairs United States Senate The Honorable Richard J. Durbin The Honorable Patty Murray The Honorable Ken Salazar United States Senate Subject: VA Health Care: Preliminary Findings on the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Budget Formulation for Fiscal Years 2005 and 2006 This report documents the information we provided to you in a briefing on February 2, 2006, in response to your request concerning the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) internal budget formulation process. (See enclosure.) This includes information that VA develops for its budget submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), but it does not include information on subsequent interactions that occur between VA and OMB. We will do additional work to incorporate information from OMB and complete our analysis in a report to be issued at a later date. You requested information on VA's budget formulation process because of your interest in ensuring that VA's budget forecasts are accurate and based on valid patient estimates. As you know, VA provides a uniform set of medical benefits to eligible veterans. If sufficient resources are not available to provide care that is timely and acceptable in quality, VA is required to restrict medical benefits based on veterans' eligibility priorities.' VA also provides other services, such as nursing home care, to certain veterans. VA's provision of medical care is dependent upon the availability of appropriations. For fiscal year 2005, Congress appropriated $31.5 billion for all of VA's medical programs, and VA provided medical care to about 5 million veterans. 'Priority categories are generally determined on the basis of service-connected disability and income. There are currently eight priority categories. VA used this system to restrict enrollment in January 2003 to no longer allow Priority 8 veterans, those in the lowest priority category who generally do not have service-connected disabilities or low income, to enroll. This policy remains in effect. GAO-06-430R VA Health Care Budget Formulation

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