Connecting Veterans with Choice

To help veterans learn how the Choice program allows them to go to private providers for their health care needs, we hosted workshops on Rota, Tinian, and Saipan. More than 80 veterans and family members attended, as well as over 50 representatives from the hospital, community health centers, and private clinics.

I invited David McIntyre, President and CEO of TriWest, the company that administers Choice nationwide for the Department of Veterans Affairs. He brought with him TriWest Pacific Regional Director Karl Kiyokawa. Providers, who are already signed up to work with Choice or want to, got their questions answered by the President of the company. I am also grateful to the VA’s Pacific Islands Health Care System for sending Mr. Francisco “Orlando” Valdez from Honolulu to answer questions from the VA perspective.

Choice was created after I and other Members representing rural and remote areas of our county, spoke up for veterans there, who could not get access to services. Just before leaving Washington on July 28, the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, of which I am a member, our Senate counterparts, and the White House hammered out a deal to provide $3.9 billion to keep the Choice program running, so veterans far from VA facilities still get the care they need and earned.