Proposed Veterans Affairs' Budget

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Washington DC

On Feb 1, 2010, the White House announced a proposed $125 billion budget next year for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The $125 billion budget request, which has to be approved by Congress, includes $60.3 billion for discretionary spending (mostly health care) and $64.7 billion in mandatory funding (mostly for disability compensation and pensions).

Some of the budget requests include:
o An increase of $460 million and more than 4,000 additional claims processors for veterans benefits. This is a 27 percent funding increase over the 2010 level.
o $5.2 billion for mental health, an increase of $410 million (or 8.5 percent) over current spending, enabling expansion of inpatient, residential and outpatient mental health services, with emphasis on making mental health services part of primary care and specialty care.
o $250 million to strengthen access to health care for 3.2 million veterans enrolled in VA’s medical system who live in rural areas. Rural outreach includes expanded use of home-based primary care and mental health.

The budget provides an increase of $42 million for VA’s home telehealth program. The effort already cares for 35,000 patients and is the largest program of its kind in the world.

The 2011 budget provides $217.6 million to meet the gender-specific health care needs of women veterans, an increase of $18.6 million (or 9.4 percent) over the 2010 level. Enhanced primary care for women veterans remains one of the Department’s top priorities.

During 2011, VA expects to treat 6.1 million patients, who will account for more than 800,000 hospitalizations and 83 million outpatient visits.
The total includes 439,000 veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, for whom $2.6 billion is included in the budget proposal. That’s an increase of $597 million – or 30 percent – from the current budget.

The proposed budget for health care also includes:
o $6.8 billion for long-term care, an increase of $859 million (or 14 percent) over 2010. This amount includes $1.5 billion for non-institutional long-term care.
o Expanding access to VA health care system for more than 99,000 Veterans who were previously denied care because of their incomes.
o $590 million for medical and prosthetic research.
o Continuing development of a “virtual lifetime electronic record,” a digital health record that will accompany Veterans throughout their lives.

VA is requesting $54.3 billion in advance appropriations for 2012 for health care, an increase of $2.8 billion over the 2011 enacted amount. Planned initiatives in 2012 include better leveraging acquisitions and contracting, enhancing the use of referral agreements, strengthening VA’s relationship with the Defense Department, and expanding the use of medical technology.