Kaine joins bipartisan push for improving veterans' access to health care

Sen. Timothy M. Kaine, D-Va., has joined a bipartisan group of senators to introduce legislation aimed at improving veterans’ access to health care and address the challenges facing the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The Veterans’ Access to Care through Choice, Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014 would allow veterans to see private doctors outside the VA system if they experience long wait times or live more than 40 miles from a VA facility for a two year period.

The measure would also provide the VA Secretary authority to dismiss poorly performing administrators and employees who manipulated wait-time data, and help the VA swiftly hire staff to decrease the scheduling backlog.

“After so many discouraging revelations of issues at the VA - including data released yesterday that revealed unacceptable wait times at VA centers in Virginia - I’m heartened that we were able to come together around a bipartisan compromise that will produce meaningful change for our veterans,” Kaine said in a statement today.

“By giving the VA tools to decrease wait times and hire needed staff, but also allowing veterans to receive private care if timely VA care isn’t available, we can help veterans at VA centers across the country receive the prompt treatment they have earned,” Kaine said.

Besides Kaine, Sens. Bernie Sanders, D-Vermont, John McCain, R-Arizona., Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, and Richard Burr, R-N.C., are sponsoring the legislation.

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