VA to Cut Some Non-Emergency Medical Care

The Veterans Administration will stop providing non-emergency medical care to about 2,000 veterans in San Diego County after Dec. 1, it was announced this week.

The veterans affected are moderate- and high-income individuals whose medical conditions are not connected with their military service. They will still be eligible for emergency care.

Cheryl A. Korman, a spokeswoman for the VA medical center in La Jolla, said the cutbacks were needed because the center’s funding has remained constant, while its workload and staff salaries have increased.

Korman said that about 240 of the 9,500 hospitalizations each year at the medical center will be eliminated as well as about 13,000 of the 236,000 outpatient visits at the medical center and its Mission Valley clinic.

Under 1986 VA regulations, medically indigent veterans and those with service-connected conditions receive priority for routine care over those with higher incomes and non-service-connected conditions. The latter groups of veterans are considered “discretionary workload,” which means that they are eligible for routine care only if extra funds are available, according to Korman.

Single veterans are defined as medically indigent if they earn less than $15,833 a year, Korman said. Those with one dependent are medically indigent if they earn less than $18,999 annually. Additional dependents raise the eligibility level by $1,050 each.