Congress approves bill to eliminate sunset date for Veterans Choice Program

[April 19, 2017]  LINCOLN - Currently Veterans with VA healthcare who live more than 40 miles from a VA Medical center or VA clinic or who are on a wait list for longer than 30 days or are expected to wait at least that long can choose a VA health care option called the “Veterans Choice Program.”

This program allows veterans already enrolled in VA health care to receive health care within their community. Veterans should not set up their own appointments with their care physician but rather should call the Choice Program call center at 866-606-8198 to have an appointment set by the Veterans Choice personnel.

Under the current law the Choice Program was to expire when either the appropriated money was exhausted or August 7, 2017, whichever occurred first. On March 7th, David Shulkin, VA Secretary, asked congress to eliminate the mandatory expiration date as funds are anticipated to be available. Since then, a bill to eliminate the expiration date has made its way through Congress and was presented to President Trump on April 7th. It is not known when the funds will be exhausted at this time but this elimination of the mandatory expiration date will allow the Choice Program to continue past August 7th.

Any veterans with questions are encouraged to call the Logan County VAC at 217-732-7388 or visit the VAC on the First floor of the Logan County Courthouse.

[Dan Benedict, Logan County VAC Superintendent]