WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Bill Delahunt, an outspoken critic of delays in medical care for veterans, today joined with his Massachusetts congressional colleagues to protest the planned consolidation of four major VA medical centers.

In written testimony before a local advisory panel hearing for the Capital Asset Realignment to Enhance Services (CARES) Commission held at UMASS-Boston, Rep. Delahunt joined with veterans, their families and doctors and nurses to comment on nine proposed recommendations to close or realign VA centers in West Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, Brockton and Bedford.

The nine recommendations – posted at www.va.gov/cares -- range from consolidating some or all of the services at each of the four hospitals by relocating them to different facilities, and then closing one or more of them, to planning for the construction of a larger, Boston-based medical center complex. Only one proposal suggests renovating and modernizing the existing four facilities.

In his prepared remarks, Delahunt stressed that, “Closing or realigning existing services would place tremendous burdens on those who use the VA system. Asking aging veterans to travel additional distances – in some cases, after already waiting months for an appointment – is unconscionable. Relocating services will only add to a patient’s stress and impede recovery. Planning for new centers at a time of severe budget constraints is fiscally irresponsible.”

He went on to point out that the methodology used by the VA contractor, Price Waterhouse Cooper, in developing the recommendations may have been based on erroneous figures. For instance, service projections were based on the current VA formulas – the same formulas that have resulted in billion dollar budget gaps. According to the VA the number of veterans seeking service in VISN 1 will actually decrease over the next 20 years by nine percent (88,000 down to 80,000 serviced).

Delahunt remarked, “Common sense would dictate that these projections are simply wrong. These projections were made using 2002 service baselines, long before we committed tens of thousands of US troops overseas to Iraq and Afghanistan. And according to published news reports more than 14,000 soldiers have been wounded.”

“Our Commonwealth’s sons and daughters have routinely placed themselves in harm’s way – on the beaches, in the jungles and the deserts. Many didn’t return,” Delahunt stated. “To those who did, we made a promise, it was a sacred covenant between nation and soldier, as old as the Republic itself. Let us not compromise that covenant in the name of bureaucratic or budgetary efficiency.”

Rep. Delahunt reminded veterans and their families that they still have two weeks to comment on the nine recommendations. Comments can be sent via email through the VA cares website or in writing to Boston Study, VA CARES Study, PO Box 1427, Washington Grove, MD 20880-1427.

Earlier this week, Delahunt joined with the 11 other members of the Commonwealth’s House and Senate delegation in a letter to the CARES Commission urging that existing facilities be renovated and modernized.

For Rep. Delahunt, VA services are a top priority. He has been a consistent supporter of efforts to make federal funding for VA services mandatory, just like Medicare. The full text of Rep. Delahunt’s prepared remarks from today’s hearing is available from his office.

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