| U.S. Representative Dale Kildee has joined the fight to save some health services at the Lutz Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Saginaw.
Lutz Medical Center, 1500 Weiss, is one of eight facilities nationwide in a proposed plan that would lose their inpatient medical care for veterans, Kildee said. The Flint Democrat introduced a bill Friday to Congress that would stop the secretary of Veteran Affairs from closing or relocating the inpatient services.
"Eliminating inpatient care at Lutz Medical Care Center will have a devastating impact on the quality and accessibility of medical care for over 60,000 veterans in mid-Michigan," Kildee said.
The Saginaw News could not reach Lutz officials for comment.
The elimination of inpatient services at many veterans hospitals had sparked protests nationally, including pickets in Waco, Texas, and Canandaigua, N.Y..
Congress would get 60 days to review any decisions by Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi.
The proposed plan would not close but would offer out-patient services at VA hospitals. Veterans would receive treatment at a community hospital, such as Covenant HealthCare or Saint Mary's hospital in Saginaw, with the VA footing the bill.
The government wants to cut costs at outdated or underused medical centers over 20 years and offer improved and more comprehensive care.
VA officials have said that they were effectively ordered by Congress to shed hospitals in areas where veteran populations are dwindling and improve services where their numbers are growing.
The proposed $4.6 billion restructuring also would shutter hospitals in Pittsburgh; Lexington, Ky.; Brecksville, Ohio; Gulfport, Miss.; and Livermore, Calif. It also would downsize another dozen health centers around the country.
A VA commission will likely make its recommendations by December. As with military base closings in the 1990s, Principi will accept or reject the plan as a whole, and will do so within 30 days.
He has indicated, however, that he will weigh in on proposals he doesn't agree with.
The 163-hospital VA network spends almost $1 million a day on unneeded buildings, a 1999 federal study found. t
Darryl Q. Tucker is a staff writer for The Saginaw News. You may reach him at 776-9686. The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
