Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Senate Veterans’ Affairs Hearing Spotlights Delays, Denials in VA Community Care under the Mission Act
Summary
Veterans, advocates and committee members told the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee that the VA’s community care program under the Mission Act is failing to deliver timely, consistent mental‑health and residential services in many cases, citing long waits, unclear eligibility, poor record transfers and uneven local implementation.
At a Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing, veterans, family members and advocates described repeated delays and denials in the Department of Veterans Affairs’ community care program under the VA MISSION Act, saying those failures have left some veterans without timely mental‑health or residential treatment.
Eric Golnick, a U.S. Navy veteran and co‑founder of Forage Health, told the committee that although he saw a psychiatrist “relatively quickly,” it “took over a year to see a therapist,” and “for someone with a mental health or substance use disorder, the window to intervene is often just days.” Golnick said inconsistent implementation across Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISNs) and VA medical centers (VAMCs) creates administrative delays that can endanger veterans.
The hearing included detailed family testimony. Paige Marge, the wife of Air Force veteran Charles Marg, described repeated unsuccessful attempts to get her husband longer‑term counseling and inpatient residential care. Marge said Charlie “waited 6 to 8 weeks for the referral to be processed” on multiple occasions and that…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
