Legislation passed by the Senate aimed at improving veterans' access to healthcare may cost the federal government $35.5 billion over the first three years, according to a Bloomberg report.
The legislation allows veterans to use private medical providers if they live more than 40 miles away from a VA hospital or if they experience long wait times.
A Congressional Budget analysis of the plan to allow veterans to receive care from non-VA healthcare providers found it could cost about $50 billion per year, but some of those costs would be offset by Medicare savings, according to the report.
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