I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2633
To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to replace with a more equitable
formula the current formula, known as the Veterans Equitable Resource
Allocation (VERA), for the allocation of funds appropriated to the De-
partment of Veterans Affairs for medical care to different geographic
regions of the Nation, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 25, 2001
Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN (for himself, Mr. GRUCCI, Mrs. KELLY, Mr. HINCHEY,
Mr. GILMAN, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr. KING, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. PALLONE,
Mrs. ROUKEMA, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Mr. LAFALCE, Ms.
DELAURO, Mr. MCHUGH, Mr. FOSSELLA, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. WEINER,
Mr. BASS, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Mr. PAYNE, Mr.
HOLT, Mr. SWEENEY, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. FERGUSON, Mr. MENENDEZ,
Mr. ROTHMAN, and Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to replace with
a more equitable formula the current formula, known
as the Veterans Equitable Resource Allocation (VERA),
for the allocation of funds appropriated to the Depart-
ment of Veterans Affairs for medical care to different
geographic regions of the Nation, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans Equal Treat-
ment Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The Veterans Equitable Resource Allocation
(VERA) formula, established by the Department of
Veterans Affairs pursuant to section 429 of the fis-
cal year 1997 VA/HUD appropriations Act (Public
Law 104–204; 110 Stat. 2929), has proved to be an
ineffective means of allocating veterans medical care
dollars fairly across the 22 national service regions,
known as Veterans Integrated Service Networks
(VISNs), of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
(2) The VERA formula has resulted in a sys-
tem of inequitable care at veterans hospitals in dif-
ferent regions of the country.
(3) The VERA formula has resulted in a sys-
tem in which veterans in some regions of the country
are forced to compete with veterans in other regions
for critical medical care dollars, when the system
should be providing funding to all veterans, regard-
less of where they live, to ensure that all veterans
have access to the level and quality of care that they
have all earned and deserve.
(4) The VERA formula should be replaced with
a new funding formula that puts the funds provided
to the Department of Veterans Affairs for medical
care into the Department of Veterans Affairs Med-
ical Centers that are treating patients.
SEC. 3. REVISION TO MEDICAL CARE FUNDING ALLOCA-
TION FORMULA FOR DEPARTMENT OF VET-
ERANS AFFAIRS.
(a) TERMINATION OF VERA FORMULA.—The fund-
ing allocation formula for the Department of Veterans Af-
fairs medical care system known as the Veterans Equi-
table Resource Allocation system, established pursuant to
section 429 of Public Law 104–204 (110 Stat. 2929),
shall be discontinued by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs
effective at the end of the fiscal year during which this
Act is enacted.
(b) DEVELOPMENT OF REPLACEMENT FORMULA.—
The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall develop a new for-
mula for the allocation of funds appropriated to the De-
partment of Veterans Affairs for Medical Care to the na-
tional service regions, known as Veterans Integrated Serv-
ice Networks (VISNs), of the Department. In developing
such formula, the Secretary shall take the following re-
quirements into account:
(1) For any fiscal year for which the amount
appropriated for Medical Care is an increase from
the preceding year, the funding level provided under
the new formula to any VISN may not be less than
the amount provided for the preceding year.
(2) The new formula shall take into account ad-
ditional costs incurred by a VISN due to any of the
following factors at that VISN being in excess of the
median for all VISNs:
(A) The number of veterans moving into
the geographic area of that VISN.
(B) The median age of veterans in that
VISN.
(C) The number of veterans in that VISN
requiring complex care or nursing home care.
(D) The age of Department of Veterans
Affairs health care facilities in that VISN.
(c) TRANSITION FORMULA.—If as of the date speci-
fied in subsection (a) for the termination of the funding
allocation formula referred to in that subsection the Sec-
retary of Veterans Affairs has not implemented a replace-
ment funding allocation formula in accordance with sub-
section (b), then effective as of that date and until such
a replacement funding allocation formula is implemented,
the funding allocation formula to be applied to amounts