WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, today called on Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to address problems that have arisen with the implementation of the Veterans Choice Program.

At a field hearing in Gainesville, Ga., the third in a series of oversight hearings on the Veterans Choice Program, Isakson questioned VA Secretary Robert McDonald on the VA’s implementation of the program, which allows veterans who meet certain criteria to receive health care outside the VA.

The Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act of 2014, passed by Congress in the wake of the Phoenix VA Medical Center wait time scandal, gave the VA 90 days to start the program, but nine months later, veterans using the program still face significant hurdles.

Isakson began, “The purpose of this meeting today is to talk about the Veterans Choice Act and having a more veterans’-centric Veterans Administration. …this is the first year anniversary of the Veterans Choice Act, which passed in August 2014 and began implementation in November 2014, and is in full force today. There are problems and challenges that we have to meet. That’s why we are here today: to find out what those are and to talk about what we will do to solve them.”

Specifically, veterans in Georgia have experienced problems with the Choice Program’s 60-day authorization period, miscommunication about eligibility for the program and problems scheduling appointments. Veteran Carlos Chacha of Jasper, Ga., testified about his experience working with both VA and a Choice third party administrator to schedule an appointment since May, 2015; despite the Choice Program’s goal of helping veterans who have been waiting longer than thirty days for an appointment, he still has not seen a doctor.

“We did the very best that we could in Congress in 2014 to write a bill that worked and gave the VA more tools and to give the veterans more accessibility,” said Isakson. “In doing so, any time you create a new entity, you create a few problems. And we have been working over the last 12 months to find out where those problems were and correct them.”

Isakson noted that while each state faces its own problems implementing Veterans Choice, these examples in Georgia reflect national challenges with the program, and the VA must determine how to make Choice work across the United States.

Isakson continued, “We’ve been working also to see what the future of VA Choice could really be for our veterans. We all know Veterans Choice was the right thing to do. We all know the changes we have made, and the ones we seek to make will make it even better. It will be the force-multiplier necessary not to replace VA health care, but to enhance VA health care.”

Also in attendance was Representative Doug Collins, R-Ga.-9, who has served as an Air Force Reserve chaplain since 2002. Stationed at Balad Air Force Base, he served a combat tour in Iraq in 2008.

During his opening remarks, Isakson also commended the history-making female graduates from the U.S. Army Ranger School at Fort Benning, Georgia, today, and noted Secretary McDonald was also a Ranger School graduate from Fort Benning.

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The Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs is chaired by U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., in the 114th Congress.

Isakson is a veteran himself – having served in the Georgia Air National Guard from 1966-1972 – and has been a member of the Senate VA Committee since he joined the Senate in 2005. Isakson’s home state of Georgia is home to more than a dozen military installations representing each branch of the military as well as more than 750,000 veterans.