Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

I would like to welcome our colleague from Florida, Vern Buchanan to the Subcommittee on Health.  Having served six years in the Air National Guard, Vern brings with him strong military values and experience that will be an asset to our Subcommittee and our Nation’s veterans.

Mr. Chairman, we have worked well together this year to move legislation for the benefit of our veterans, and I look forward to continuing to work in a bipartisan manner as we consider four draft legislative proposals today. 

One of the bills before us today would prohibit collecting copayments from catastrophically disabled veterans enrolled in priority group 4.  There are about 25,000 veterans in Priority Group 4 who have been determined to be catastrophically disabled and are still subject to copay requirements.  This legislation would ensure that copay rules do not apply to any Priority Group 4 veterans.

A second bill would expand VA’s authority to provide services to family members of veterans seeking services for non-service connected conditions. 

We will also examine legislation to clarify and update provisions of law authorizing VA-affiliated Nonprofit Research and Education Corporations (NPCs).  In 2006, VA’s NPCs reported over $230 million in revenues to support VA-approved research and education activities.  These NPCs work in coordination with VA Medical Centers, and it is important that we provide effective oversight to ensure the proper management of these corporations. 

Additionally, a fourth bill, H.R. 6366, the Veterans Revenue Enhancement Act of 2008 was recently added to the Subcommittee’s agenda, and provided to our witnesses yesterday.  The General Accounting Office (GAO) reported this month that problems in billing processes at VA continue to impair VA’s ability to maximize collections from third-party insurance companies.  They estimated that 1.2 to 1.4 billion dollars are going uncollected.  GAO did note, however, that a congressionally mandated Mid-Atlantic Consolidated and Revenue Improvement Demonstration Project increased cash collections using effective cycle management tools and process standardization.  This demo collected an additional seven million dollars.  The bill would require VA within five years to establish not more that seven consolidated patient accounting centers modeled after this successful Mid-Atlantic Consolidated Patient Accounting Center in Asheville, North Carolina.  I understand that given the short time to respond our witnesses may not be able to comment on this legislation today.  However, I would appreciate and request that your views be provided for the record following the hearing.