AP FACT CHECK: Trump's false 'Choice' on vets' health care

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is putting forth a false “Choice" when he boasts about a program aimed at improving veterans' health care by steering more patients to the private sector.

Heading toward the Memorial Day weekend, Trump bragged anew that he got the Veterans Choice program passed so veterans now can choose to go to private doctors immediately for care if they have to wait too long for appointments at government-run VA medical facilities.

But the Choice program was achieved by his predecessor. And it is currently restricted because of the coronavirus outbreak.

A look at his statements:

TRUMP: “We’ve done the greatest job maybe of anything in the VA, because I got VA Choice ... approved." — remarks Monday.

THE FACTS: False. He didn’t get Veterans Choice approved; President Barack Obama did in 2014. Trump expanded it, under a 2018 law known as the MISSION Act.

___

TRUMP: “So if you have to wait on line for a doctor, you go outside, you have a private doctor, we pay the bill.” — remarks Monday.

THE FACTS: His suggestion that veterans no longer have waits for care because of the Choice program is also false.

Since March, VA actually has halted the program’s key provisions that granted veterans the option to see private doctors if they endured long delays at VA, citing the pandemic. Internal VA emails obtained by The Associated Press reveal that some veterans are being turned away, even when private doctors are available to see them.

The program allows veterans to see a private doctor for primary or mental health care if their VA wait is 20 days (28 for specialty care) or their drive to a VA facility is 30 minutes or more.

But since the program’s expansion in June 2018, the VA has not seen a major increase in veterans seeking...