However, Brill insisted, the Mission Act is “not a move toward privatization. Internal VA care is just as important as external VA care,” she said. “This just gives them more choice.”
Brill also noted that there’s more to the Mission Act than expanded access. For example, an expansion of the Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers Program “will start kicking in this fall and the winter,” she said. It will include families of veterans from all eras of service.
The act also is designed to improve infrastructure, although the coronavirus pandemic may disrupt timing, she said. And, she added, it will strengthen the VA’s ability to recruit and keep health care providers through projects like a new scholarship program and more access to medical education debt reduction.
