President Seeks Increase in 2019 VA Budget

In the fiscal year (FY) 2019 budget, President Trump is proposing a total of $198.6 billion for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). This request is an increase of $12.1 billion over 2018. The FY 2019 budget medical care request is $76.5 billion, including collections. Suicide prevention is VA’s highest clinical priority. The request of $8.6 billion for mental health services is $468 million (5.8 percent) above 2018. The FY 2019 budget also requests $1.2 billion to continue implementation of a single, accurate, lifetime Electronic Health Record (EHR). For a copy of the current budget submission FY 2019, visit the VA Office of Budget website, and for more details, see this Military.com article.