Details of President Bush's proposed federal budget for fiscal year 2002 released by the White House on April 9, included expenditures of $51.7 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The VA hopes the increased funding, if approved, will allow for substantial expansion and improvement of its services to America's veterans.

"The budget reflects the administration's commitment to our nation's veterans," stated Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi in an April 9, 2001 VA press release. "It will allow us to preserve vital programs and services for veterans, and to begin reshaping VA for the challenges of the 21st century."

According to Secretary Principi, the president based the VA budget request on three priorities intended to better serve America's veterans:

• Ensuring that veterans receive high-quality health care
• Improving the timeliness and accuracy of claims processing
• Maintaining veterans' cemeteries as national shrines

Health Care 
The budget request allocates $22.3 billion for the veterans' health care system, a $1 billion increase compared to this year's estimated expenditures. Some $900 million of the proposed figure will be collected from third-party health insurance plans and co-payments from veterans.

The increased funding will enable VA to care for some 4 million patients (3.8 million of whom are veterans), including 41 million outpatient visits and 681,000 hospitalizations.

The budget projections assume that 65,000 of the 240,000 military retirees over the age of 64 who are currently enrolled in VA's health care system will switch to the recently expanded TriCare program offered by the Department of Defense.

Among the items in the health care budget are an extra $196 million for long-term care and an additional $164 million to improve patient access. VA's goal is for patients to receive appointments for primary care and non-urgent care in 30 days, while being seen within 20 minutes of a scheduled appointment.

A requested $360 million – $10 million above this year's budget – would support 3,163 VA employees engaged in a wide range of research projects, especially at research centers specializing in Gulf War illnesses, diabetes, Parkinson's disease, spinal cord injury, prostate cancer, depression, environmental hazards and women's issues.

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