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DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS The President’s 2009 Budget will: • Provide veterans with the high-quality health care they deserve; • Speed veterans’ receipt of benefits; and • Ease the transition for veterans as they leave active military service. Providing Veterans with the High-Quality Health Care They Deserve • Continues to provide record levels of funding for medical care. $41.2 billion (including collections) for medical care—more than double the amount when President Bush took office. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides nationally recognized care to over five million veterans at more than 800 locations nationwide. Providing Increases in Health Care and Other Services for Veterans Billions of dollars 50 45 40 Medical Care Total VA 104% increase from 2001 to 2009 35 30 • Provides the best possible care for our 25 wounded warriors. Address the unique 106% increase from 2001 to 2009 needs of returning combat service20 members with multiple injuries at four 15 state-of-the-art polytrauma centers, 17 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 regionally-based facilities, and numerous specialists throughout the system. VA will also begin design and construction of a new polytrauma center this year. • Expands mental health and substance abuse services. $3.9 billion for full continuum of care for veterans with substance abuse disorders and mental health issues, including post-traumatic stress disorder. • Focuses resources on core-mission veterans. Refocus resources on treating veterans with disabilities resulting from military service, lower incomes, and special needs or who are returning combat veterans, by proposing income-based enrollment fees and higher pharmaceutical copayments for all other veterans. • Increases access to long-term care. Expand non-institutional long-term care that enables veterans to live and be cared for near, or in the comfort and familiar settings of, their homes surrounded by their families. 109 110 DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Speeding Veterans’ Receipt of Benefits • Cuts the disability claims backlog. Bring the average length of time to process a veteran’s disability claim from a peak of 230 days in 2001 to 145 days in 2009. • Supports priority processing for returning combat veterans. Accelerate processing of disability compensation claims for servicemembers returning from active duty service in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. Easing the Transition for Veterans as They Leave Active Military Service • Continues implementing the recommendations of the President’s Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors. ¡ ¡ VA and the Department of Defense are implementing recommendations that do not require legislation, such as employing Federal Recovery Coordinators to assist seriously injured servicemembers, improving recruitment and retention of mental health experts, and moving toward a single medical examination to establish eligibility for disability compensation from both Departments. The Administration continues to seek enactment of the remaining Commission recommendations, including modernizing the disability compensation systems, broadening treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury, and strengthening support for families. • Supports benefits delivery upon discharge from military service. Provide America’s newest veterans with the benefits and services they have earned and bring about a seamless transition from military to civilian status, including allowing separating servicemembers to apply for benefits 180 days prior to their discharge to further speed benefits delivery. • Improves collaboration with the Department of Defense. Implement ways to transfer records between the two agencies; share critical medical information electronically; process disability and other claims understandably and quickly; and in every way possible, support the transition from active duty to civilian life. • Expands treatment for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Perform screenings for all recent combat veterans, increase training for all VA health care professionals, and conduct an outside review of VA’s TBI services. Since 2001, the Department of Veterans Affairs has: • Increased the resources available for veterans’ medical care by 106 percent. • Provided medical care to more than 300,000 returning Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom servicemembers. • Improved medical care and benefits delivery for our Nation’s wounded warriors. • Funded over $5.5 billion to continue restructuring the medical care infrastructure to improve veterans’ access to quality primary and specialty health care services. • Ensured more veterans have a burial option in a national or State veterans cemetery within 75 miles of their homes. • Expanded the range of benefits available to veterans and improved the timeliness of benefits delivery. • Smoothed the transition from active duty to civilian status. THE BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2009 111 Department of Veterans Affairs (In millions of dollars) Estimate 2007 Actual 2008 2009 Spending Discretionary Budget Authority: Medical Care .......................................................................................................... Medical Collections (non-add) ................................................................... Total Medical Care including collections (non-add) ............................ Medical and Prosthetics Research ................................................................ Information Technology ...................................................................................... Construction ........................................................................................................... Veterans Benefits Administration .................................................................... General Administration ....................................................................................... 32,201 2,227 34,428 414 1,213 715 1,166 337 33,979 2,341 36,320 408 1,986 1,144 1,175 315 38,737 2,467 41,203 442 2,442 1,028 1,372 328 Housing and Other Credit.................................................................................. National Cemetery Administration.................................................................. Office of Inspector General ............................................................................... All other .................................................................................................................... Total, Discretionary budget authority ................................................................. Total, Discretionary budget authority (including medical collections) .... 153 160 71 70 36,360 38,587 156 166 73 25 39,427 41,768 158 181 77 — 44,764 47,231 Memorandum: Budget authority from enacted supplementals ......................................... Budget authority from emergency funds ..................................................... 1,788 — — 3,692 — — Total, Discretionary outlays ................................................................................... 35,152 41,744 44,242 Mandatory Outlays: Legislative proposal, Medical Care receipts ............................................... Benefits Programs: Disability Compensation and Pensions.................................................... Education Benefits........................................................................................... Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment ............................................ Housing (credit) ................................................................................................ Insurance ............................................................................................................ Other receipts and transactions .................................................................. Total, Mandatory outlays ........................................................................................ — — 379 34,600 2,430 570 29 50 6 37,673 41,360 2,640 613 801 41 555 44,901 43,940 2,747 657 13 42 581 47,575 Total, Outlays .............................................................................................................. 72,825 86,645 91,817 112 DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Department of Veterans Affairs—Continued (In millions of dollars) 2007 Actual Estimate 2008 2009 Credit activity Direct Loan Disbursements: Vendee and Acquired Loans ............................................................................ 120 337 332 All other programs ................................................................................................ Total, Direct loan disbursements ......................................................................... 12 132 21 358 20 342 Guaranteed Loan Disbursements: Veterans Home Loans ........................................................................................ 24,186 34,761 35,817
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