From the Office of Senator Kerry

Wednesday, May 1, 2002

By MELISSA B. ROBINSON Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Emerging from a meeting with New England senators, U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi said Tuesday that his agency would take a fresh look at how funding is allocated among different parts of the country. New England lawmakers have complained that the formula the VA uses to disburse funds, known as the Veterans Equitable Resource Allocation, is shortchanging the region, where the veterans' health care system has been struggling financially as more veterans have sought services. ``Our hospitals are already at the breaking point facing severe cutbacks,'' said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. The VA's New England Health Care System serves 195,000 veterans who use eight VA medical centers and 37 clinics. This year, the regional system is projected to have a roughly $40 million gap between its budget and the demand for services. Previous estimates of the gap have run as high as $80 million. ``We're going to take a look at that,'' Principi told reporters after the meeting in the office of Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. He is scheduled to travel Monday to Newington, Conn., where budget constraints have threatened the elimination of speciality health care services. Patients needing those services would be referred to West Haven, Conn., but lawmakers say that would force many veterans to travel too far _ over 30 miles or 30 minutes _ for health care. ``America owes this to her veterans,'' said Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn. ``They protect our liberty.'' In Boston, veterans hospitals in Jamaica Plain and West Roxbury have already consolidated, and there's concern among providers and veterans' advocates that services will have to be cut further if the funding gap is not closed. ``You can only consolidate and become more efficient to a certain extent,'' to save money, said Bill Burney, the Boston VA hospital's associate director. Nationwide, the VA system is also under a crunch. Since 1998, the number of veterans seeking health care through the VA has increased over 1 million to just over 4 million, said Principi. Nationwide, the VA is projecting a budget shortfall of $400 million this year, but Congress is considering a supplemental spending bill to make up at least part of that. Next year's shortfall could be as high as $1 billion, Principi said. Other senators at the meeting included Jack Reed, D-R.I., Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., Bob Smith, R-N.H., Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Susan Collins, R-Maine. AP-ES-04-30-02 1941EDT