Veterans tell House panel delays, poor coordination cripple VA Community Care

WASHINGTON — Veterans and clinicians told the House Committee on Veterans Affairs that failures in the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Community Care Program have delayed or blocked timely care, exposed gaps in case management and left VA clinicians without essential medical records.

At a full committee oversight hearing, Chairman Mike Bost said the panel convened to hear veterans’ firsthand experiences with community care under the VA Mission Act and stressed the program “is not a solution to privatize VA health care.” Ranking Member Mark Takano said he was “anguished by the unacceptable delays” veterans described and criticized the majority’s witness list for not including VA officials or the program’s third‑party administrators.

The most acute examples came from veterans who said long waits and poor coordination cost them time-sensitive treatment. William Dooley, a 20‑year Army veteran who testified that he was diagnosed after a community colonoscopy, said he first reported symptoms in September 2023, was referred to community care in December 2023 and was not scheduled for the colonoscopy until May 2024. “I woke up with the dreaded words, ‘you have cancer and need surgery…