U.S. Gives 258,000 Vets Healthcare Coverage

WASHINGTON (CN) - The Veterans Affairs Department plans to enroll an additional 258,000 veterans in its health care system, including some who have not been enrolled even though their income is below $27,000 per year, according to a propsed regulation.

The VA expects to increase spending on health care by $485 million in 2009 if the rule goes into place in its current form. The department ranks veterans in eight enrollment priority categories based on several factors, including the VA budget, the severity of any service related disabilities and the income of potential enrollees.

The rule change would expand the lowest priority category -category 8- by enrolling veterans whose net worth or incomes are 10 percent greater than the national average of current VA enrollees, with some geographical adjustments.

Click the document icon on the front page for details and links to the regulations. The document icon under the "115 DEA Questions, Agriculture & More" heading leads to other new regulations.

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