[ad_1]
The Department of Veterans Affairs is getting some flak for serving to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) process health care remedy for illegal immigrants despite a rising backlog of U.S. veterans.
Under the association, which has been round for greater than 20 years, ICE pays for the VA’s Financial Service Center (FSC) to process medical claims for ICE’s Health Services Corps (IHSC), in addition to different authorities businesses. IHSC is barely accountable for authorizing healthcare companies and acquiring suppliers to ship the health care.
In fiscal 12 months 2021, FSC processed $74 million value of claims budgeted by IHSC. The following fiscal 12 months, FSC budgeted greater than $94 million in ICE funds, in accordance to a Department of Homeland Security report on “Healthcare Costs for Noncitizens in Detention.”
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs constructing in Washington, D.C. (Alastair Pike/AFP through Getty Image/File)
It comes amid a rising backlog of advantages claims by veterans. As of December 2023, that quantity stood at 378,000 claims.
The division has attributed the rising quantity of claims to the PACT Act, which it says accounted for a surge of profit purposes — surpassing earlier information by practically 40%.
The enhance within the quantity of purposes, the VA mentioned, has led to a rise in utility time. In some instances, processing can take longer than 125 days, and the division anticipates that the backlog will develop in 2024.
PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTESTERS DEFACE VETERANS CEMETERY IN LOS ANGELES, SPRAY-PAINT ‘FREE GAZA’
A Wednesday report from The New York Post highlighting the VA’s association with ICE, cited veterans and Republican lawmakers who criticized the deal, given the circumstances.
GOP Rep. Derrick Van of Wisconsin, a retired Navy SEAL on the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, known as the association “despicable” and mentioned it “needs to be stopped immediately.”
Former Marine Chad Robichaux, who led civilian evacuation efforts in Afghanistan, mentioned it was a “giant slap in the face to Americans and to the military community,” that “millions of taxpayer dollars [are being] taken from our veterans to instead incentivize and care for an invasion of illegal aliens.”
FSC budgeted greater than $94 million in ICE funds, in accordance to a Department of Homeland Security report. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement)
A VA spokesman contacted by Fox News Digital known as the report “extremely misleading,” and was emphatic that the division is just not offering funds or healthcare to illegal immigrants in ICE detention.
He distinguished veterans’ healthcare from veterans’ incapacity claims, which is a separate process. The VA says it processed veteran advantages at a file charge in 2023, delivering $163 billion in earned advantages, together with $150 billion in compensation and pension advantages to greater than 1.5 million veterans and survivors.
VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes mentioned the VA’s work for ICE is administrative in perform solely, includes not more than 10 workers, and is totally paid for by ICE. None of these workers have been diverted from different roles, and no sources for veterans are used for this settlement.
A rising quantity of VA claims are due to the PACT Act, which has led to a surge in profit purposes. (Scott Varley/MediaNews Group/Torrance Daily Breeze through Getty Images/File)
“[The arrangement] “has been in place for each administration since 2002,” Hayes said in a statement. “Our job is to ship world-class care and advantages to our nation’s Veterans, and we are going to proceed to battle like hell to do precisely that.”
It remained unclear why, if ICE has the funds to pay the VA, it cannot — after 20 years — hire additional personnel of its own to process the paperwork within the department.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
ICE didn’t instantly reply to Fox News Digital’s request for remark.
[ad_2]
Source hyperlink