This week, U.S. Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., who sits on the U.S. House Veterans Affairs Committee, brought out the “VA Fiscal Responsibility Act” which, his office insisted, will “promote efficiency and fiscal responsibility by directing the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA) to improve its third-party billings and collections procedures.”
Steube introduced the bill on Wednesday.
“Our veterans sacrificed for our country’s security, and they should not be subjected to inefficient collection procedures,” Steube said. “These heroes deserve the best care and should not be held fiscally responsible for the system’s failure to proactively capture the third-party billings that go uncollected.”
“A large amount of VA third-party billings go uncollected each year, forcing Congress to appropriate additional borrowed funds to cover veterans’ health care services. This legislation would put the VA on the path to use the same collections procedures that private sector providers use today,” the congressman’s office noted.
The bill would let the VA automate collections of overdue third-party health insurance claims and set up the contact process to handle those automated recoveries.
Steube’s bill was sent to the Veterans Affairs Committee on Wednesday. So far, there are no cosponsors and no companion measures over in the U.S. Senate.
First elected to Congress in 2018 after serving in the Florida Legislature, Steube faces Democrat Allen Ellison in November. Steube is heavily favored to win in this solidly Republican district.
Reach Kevin Derby at kevin.derby@floridadaily.com.
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