WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp voted with a bipartisan majority of the U.S. Senate to pass a bill she helped introduce last month to extend and reform the Choice Program and make sure veterans can get care closer to home.

“Veterans should be able to get the care they need close to home. This bipartisan bill, which I helped introduce in March, extends the Choice Program and makes needed reforms to reduce costs and confusion for veterans in North Dakota and beyond,” said Heitkamp. “Going forward, I’ll keep pushing in Congress and working with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs this year for even more reforms to this program so it works for all our veterans. After all they have given to keep us safe, it’s unacceptable to ask our veterans to drive hours to get the x-rays and cancer treatments they need—and this bill is a step in guaranteeing our veterans can get that care in their communities.”

Heitkamp helped introduce the bill with U.S. Senator Jon Tester of Montana as a compromise to extend the program and address some of the concerns with the program through provisions to improve care coordination and to make VA the primary payer. The bill would reduce out-of-pocket costs and confusion for veterans, and improve medical record sharing. The Choice Program expires on August 7.

Heitkamp has long worked to reform the Choice Program, which aims to allow veterans who have difficulty obtaining a timely appointment with the VA, or live more than 40 miles from a VA health care facility, to seek care from local providers. In August, Heitkamp held a roundtable to discuss fixes to the program and heard from North Dakota veterans and health providers about serious challenges in the program.

To fix the program, Heitkamp successfully pushed for the Fargo VA to directly take over scheduling for area veterans last year. That has helped in some cases, but Heitkamp continues to push to reform the program so veterans can access care near home more smoothly. 

The Choice Program was created in 2014 when Congress passed a bipartisan bill to reform the VA and improve access to care, and since then Heitkamp has pushed to make sure it’s implemented properly. In March 2016, Heitkamp helped introduce a bill to reform the Choice Program by giving the VA flexibility to improve care for North Dakota veterans by streamlining and consolidating community care programs, while eliminating bureaucratic obstacles preventing veterans from accessing care.