By Dan Linehan

The Mankato Free Press

MANKATO — Rep. Tim Walz said a veterans reform bill he helped negotiate will reduce wait times by allowing some vets to see private-sector doctors.

It allocates $5 billion to hire VA medical staff and $10 billion to help veterans see private doctors outside the VA system. But it only benefits veterans who live more than 40 miles away from a VA facility — including smaller ones like Mankato’s or Albert Lea’s — or who have wait times of longer than a month.

Still, it helps the vets who need it the most, the Mankato Democrat said. And he views this as the opening round of reforms.

“We make improvements in areas we can right now and use it to grab data and come back,” he said.

The bill spends $17 billion over 10 years and makes $5 billion in cuts for net spending of about $12 billion. The cuts include extensions to previous budget reductions and $400 million in cuts to VA bonuses over a decade.

The bill is headed to the full House and Senate, where it’s expected to be passed within a few weeks. Walz was on a conference committee that included members from both bodies.

George Komaridis, a Mankato psychologist who has treated veterans for about 40 years, praised the spending on doctors outside the VA system, as many vets prefer. He also supports provisions that allow the veterans secretary to immediately fire corrupt and incompetent employees.

But — and there are a few ‘buts’ here — the bill does less for vets who don’t live 40 miles from a VA facility or have long wait times, he noted.

And though it spends money on private doctors, the VA has increasingly sought to bring treatment under its own roof, he said.

Komaridis said that’s contributed to the backlog and has shielded the VA from the sort of competition that would force it to do better.

Walz agrees that more private sector services would help.

“That’s the issue we have long-pressed, using community options,” he said. “We simply do not have enough providers in the VA.”

He said the bill is “as focused as any I’ve ever seen” on improving access to veterans, but not perfectly so, which makes sense in a Congress known for gridlock.

“Whenever something is moving, people want to nail stuff to it,” Walz said.