VA Health Care: Third-Party Collections Rising as VA Continues to Address Problems in Its Collections Operations

GAO-03-145 VA Health Care: Third-Party Collections Rising as VA Continues to Address Problems in Its Collections Operations The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) collects health insurance payments, known as third-party collections, for veterans health care conditions it treats that are not a result of injuries or illnesses incurred or aggravated during military service. In September 1999, VA adopted a new fee schedule, called reasonable charges, that it anticipated would increase revenues from third-party collections. In 2001, GAO testified that problems in VAs collections operations diminished VAs collections. For this report, GAO was asked to examine . . .