NOVA Joins Healthcare Partners in Testifying Against Dangerous Legislation

Washington D.C., July 10, 2023 – This week, the Nurses Organization of Veterans Affairs (NOVA) alongside a coalition of healthcare partners – among them the American Psychological Association, Association of VA Psychologist Leaders, Association of VA Social Workers, Association of Veterans Affairs Nurse Anesthetists, Military and Veterans Committee for the Advancement of Psychiatry, National Association of Veterans Affairs Optometrists, National Association of Veterans Affairs Physicians and Dentists, Veterans Affairs Physician Assistant Association, and the Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute — put forth urgent concerns on a few critical bills scheduled to be considered by the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs at a hearing on Wednesday, July 12.

We explain in our statement for the record that several bills - especially the Veterans HEALTH Act and the Veterans Healthcare Freedom Act - have the potential to vastly accelerate the outsourcing of veterans’ care to the private sector. This would drain the VA of needed funding for internal services. It would harm veterans’ choices, reduce staff, and, in turn, shutter programs, units, clinics, and medical center facilities across the country.

NOVA’s President, TJ Wilcox-Olson, said: “NOVA is deeply committed to caring for veterans and believes that the VA provides the highest level of coordinated care in a setting that understands their medical needs. These bills would leave veterans subject to the sort of fragmented care common in the private sector.”

Our multi-organizational statement reminds lawmakers that VA’s integrated model of healthcare is unique and provides veterans with the highest quality of care that addresses their complex military-related conditions. We point to data documenting that the quality of VHA healthcare surpasses private sector care on virtually every metric.

We will continue to advocate on behalf of VA nurses and patients and ask the public to contact your members of Congress and urge them to oppose any bills that privatize VA healthcare.

To watch Wednesday’s live hearing,  or, later a recorded version, click here.

For more about NOVA's advocacy, visit our 2023 Legislative Priority Goals. 

###