Senate Rejects Plan to Change VA Hospitals : Health: Pilot project would have opened two facilities to non-veterans. Opponents charged that the move would affect the quality of care.

The Bush Administration canceled plans to open two veterans hospitals to non-veterans Friday after the Senate voted to withhold federal financing for the demonstration project.

The project, which was to include hospitals in Tuskegee, Ala., and Salem, Va., was opposed by veterans who feared that it would diminish the quality of health care the hospitals could offer.

“I underestimated the intensity of feeling among the veterans,” said Veterans Affairs Secretary Edward J. Derwinski. “I did not think that two pilot projects, carefully monitored in two of 172 institutions, would draw such a huge furor from the veterans.”

The test program, which was to be run jointly by the VA and the Department of Health and Human Services, had been designed to improve access to health care in rural areas by sharing available facilities.

The two hospitals selected for the program would continue to provide health care on a priority basis to veterans with service-related disabilities and to low-income vets, but the facilities also would have offered medical services to some non-veterans.

The project also would have allowed veterans to use government-funded community health clinics.

Although Administration officials promised that health care would not be delayed or denied to veterans, many veterans remained opposed to the plan.

“We’re delighted with the secretary’s decision,” said Victor McCoy, president of the Paralyzed Veterans of America. “We are concerned with the overall budget for veterans and the dwindling resources . . . when we look at the needs in other areas, it (the project) still takes away from that.”

Health and Human Services Secretary Louis W. Sullivan said he was disappointed that the project was canceled. But he said he will authorize more money for the community health centers in Tuskegee and Salem so they can extend their hours of operation and improve services.

Details on this funding and the amount are being worked out, said John Gibbons, a spokesman for Sullivan.

The Senate signaled its opposition with an amendment to a $57-billion, five-year higher education package. The amendment, sponsored by Sens. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Richard C. Shelby (D-Ala.) would prohibit federal financing of the project. It passed on a vote of 91 to 3.

Derwinski called the Senate opposition “election-year jitters,” but added that “we decided that since they put the amendment into a bill that was veto-proof, there’s nothing we could do.

“We think it’s a good idea, but the time hasn’t come yet,” he said.