Veterans Health Administration (VHA)

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) program aims to provide medical help to veterans. Although it is significantly cheaper compared to the private sectors, its long-term cost-effectiveness is questionable. Potential financial challenges the program faces relate to the overall provision of health care. However, the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act or the Choice Act provides a guideline how the VHA program will run. As such, the VHA program and the Act have considerable financial implications on the veterans medical care choices.
It is projected that by 2019, the demand for VHA services will surpass the supply. However, after it will happen, the demand for these services will level off or decline. Currently, the program does not provide adequate and timely care. Moreover, the demand for VHA care is likely to surpass the program’s capacity (Farmer, Hosek, & Adamson, 2016). Based on this projection and assumptions, the policy would possibly experience a cash crunch. The program requires substantial resources to upgrade the VHA facilities and modernize the IT systems. Moreover, it needs to invest considerable resources in reducing the waiting time, establishing same-day services, and creating an integrated network for care (Congressional Budget Office, 2014). On this basis, the cost of running the program will increase substantially. Besides, the policy refers for the subsidized pharmaceutical products. Current mandatory funding for the VHA program encompassing veterans insurance, indemnities accounts, and pensions among others is not adequate to cover the veterans medical costs. This implies that the government needs to increase the discretionary funding for veterans medical care program. Consequently, the mandatory and discretionary funding is projected to hit the $107.7 billion and $70.7 billion marks by 2019 respectively (Department of veterans affairs, 2017). Therefore, the long-term cost of running the program will be enormous requiring significant fund allocation.
The Choice Act provides a framework for the administration of the VHA program. It allows the Federal government to tailor the program to fit the needs and requirements of the veterans in collaboration with individual states across the USA. As such, it allows actualizing the objects of the VHA program for resource allocation. Besides, the law provides for education and training for health professionals and physicians in partnership with various higher learning institutions across the country. Currently, the VHA trains over 40,000 physicians annually. Moreover, it permits the addition of 1,500 new positions in the medical profession regarding the VHA program on a five-year basis (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2015). As a result, it expands the program workforce and related costs, such as training expenses, salaries, and others compensation packages. Moreover, it demands considerable resource investment in primary care and mental health. Furthermore, it provides for the expansion of VHA facilities in communities characterized by the high concentration of veterans. Notably, the Choice Act expands the role of VHA program encompassing staff training and infrastructure development. As such, it broadens the financial burden the VHA program faces by increasing resource use areas. Consequently, the Act has severe economic implications on the operations of the veterans medical care because it broadens expenditure areas as explained above a factor that would create financial constraints in the efficient running of the program due to the likelihood of an economic crisis in the long run.
The VHA is funded by the federal government through the budgetary allocation. However, the Federal government in collaboration with individual states across the country can support the program (Liu et al., 2010). The VHA allocates funds in line with the Per the Antideficiency Act (ADA). As such, the policy must operate within the budget. Evidently, the veterans affairs (VA) program is funded based on a variety of mechanism, for instance, the General