Veterans Affairs medical centers in the Mountain State will not see proposed reductions in services, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., announced Monday.
The senator said he and several other colleagues have compromised to kill the AIR Act by not appointing committee members. The Asset and Infrastructure Review Commission would have been tasked with reviewing recommendations to reduce services at three West Virginia VA centers.
“We have all agreed there will not be any confirmation votes,” Manchin said. “What we have to do now is get the vehicle – the National Defense Authorization Act – and put the absolute closure of the AIR Act in that, but it’s dead. It is dead.”
The announcement comes as a relief to West Virginia Department of Veterans Assistance Secretary, Ted Diaz.
"It was an answer. It was an answer to prayer," Diaz said. "That was going to impact also 71,000 to 72,000 veterans that are enrolled in the veteran healthcare system. That was going to overwhelm the hospital system in the state."
As part of an AIR report issued in March, reductions in services provided were recommended at the Beckley VA Medical Center, the Louis A. Johnson Medical Center in Clarksburg and the Hershel “Woody” Williams VAMC in Huntington.
"Once we got the report this year, it told us exactly what they intended to do," Manchin said. "In 2018, we heard, "Oh no, it's going to be more efficient. We'll make it better." How can you make something better if you take it away? How can you improve it if it's gone?"
State leaders and patients immediately criticized the report, saying the recommendations would lead to the discontinuation of in-patient and emergency room care at some of the VA centers.
Officials said the change would have also moved some long-term care options out of state, which would require veterans to travel for treatment.
The VA Mission Act was passed by Congress in 2018, and among its provisions requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to research, develop and publish a list of recommendations intended to modernize VA medical facilities and health care delivery, according to a news release from Manchin's office.
The law further directed those recommendations to be reviewed by a presidentially-appointed and Senate-confirmed commission, which would then report its views of the recommendations to the president who could end the process or present recommendations to congress for a vote.
Manchin said he will continue to prioritize healthcare for veterans moving forward.
"Right now is a good day for us not to worry does our Clarksburg get changed and transformed, does Beckley, does our Huntington, Woody Williams facility," Manchin said. "Are we going to be changing in Martinsburg and closing sea boxes? None of that is going to happen. We can concentrate 1,000% on improving the quality of care of each one of our facilities."