IG: VA Fails to Bill Insurers When It Should

The Veterans Affairs Department is losing more than $110 million a year by failing to bill third-party insurance companies for medical care, according to an inspector general report. Blaming an ineffective medical billing process and a lack of a system to track fees, the VA is not billing private insurers for 46 percent of health care costs that they should be covering, according to Wednesday’s audit report from the VA inspector general that calls this a “missed opportunity” due largely to “ineffective and unreliable” practices.

“This is way too much money that is just being left on the table by VA,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee chairwoman. “Especially now, when we have to fight for every dollar our veterans get, VA cannot allow insurance companies to walk away with taxpayer dollars that could go back to veterans care,” Murray said.