Montana veterans face wait for medical travel reimbursements

After hearing from Kalispell veterans who are facing delays in travel reimbursements for their treks to medical appointments, one of Montana’s senators said he’s calling on the secretary of Veterans Affairs to hire an additional employee in the state.

Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., requested Secretary David Shulkin hire an additional employee to process reimbursement payments for veterans who travel to and from medical appointments, according to a Monday press release.

According to Tester’s office, the backlog of travel claims in Montana has grown to more than 8,000, with some claims up to six weeks old.

“In a highly rural state like Montana, veterans depend on reimbursements for the costs of transporting themselves great distances in order to receive health care,” Tester said. “A six-week delay in processing claims is an excessive financial burden for these veterans, many of whom make multiple travel claims per month.”

Tester is the ranking member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee.

Mike Garcia with the Montana VA Health Care System said Montana VA received Tester’s letter regarding delays in travel pay and is “looking into the matter.”

“There has been a delay in processing travel claims in recent months related to the retirement of our primary subject matter expert at Fort Harrison and the subsequent hiring freeze which delayed hiring of additional staff to process these claims,” Garcia said in an emailed statement.

In January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to freeze the hiring of all federal employees. At the time, VA had more than 2,000 job openings listed on its federal hiring website. The action exempted military personnel and hiring for national security and public safety.

In April, the White House lifted the freeze. However, the VA opted to leave thousands of positions unfilled. Shulkin’s order was described in an internal April 14 memorandum obtained by The Associated Press.

The VA indicated more than 4,000 jobs would remain vacant unless they were approved by top VA leadership as addressing an “absolute critical need.”

The department cited the need for a leaner VA as it develops a longer-term plan to allow more veterans to seek medical care in the private sector, according to the Associated Press.

Garcia said the agency will respond to Tester’s letter with a “multi-disciplinary approach” that will include local and national VA staff as well as the Treasury Department and other relevant federal agencies.

“However, until the formal response to the letter is complete, local VA staff will not make any further comment on this matter,” Garcia said.

Tester said he’s also asked Shulkin to improve the record-keeping of veterans’ reimbursement claims.

According to Tester’s office, some veterans have said they didn’t receive receipts from automated machines at the VA, travel pay kiosks, or after they visit the travel pay office in person. Without receipts, Fort Harrison often has no record of their claims, Tester said.

Reporter Katheryn Houghton may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at khoughton@dailyinterlake.com.