U.S. Representative Dale Strong is focusing his attention on an issue he believes is impacting the quality of daily life for many of America’s veterans.

As North Alabama’s voice in Washington, Rep. Strong (R-Monrovia) said he wants to address the questionable efficiency of the Veterans Affair’s Beneficiary Travel Self-Service System. The BTSSS is the VA’s web-based travel reimbursement program.

This week, Strong sent a letter to the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Denis R. McDonough expressing his concerns while also noting the volume of grievances his office has received over the issue.

“Over the past eighteen months, my office has received countless complaints about the BTSSS and requests for assistance to navigate the VA’s reimbursement bureaucracy. These concerns include technical glitches and usability issues, processing delays, and the discouragement of paper claims, among other things,” Strong wrote.

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“This report [May 2024 GAO report, ‘Additional Assessment of Mileage Reimbursement Data and Veterans’ Travel Costs Needed,’] highlights that the Veterans’ Health Agency is not accurately tracking the total cost of veterans’ travel to VA appointments, which could assist with further program evaluation and help inform future VA decisions regarding resource allocation and expanding options for community care, which in turn would help alleviate the need to use BTSSS so frequently.”

In the letter Strong posed three questions to McDonough. They were:

• Does the VA plan to implement the four recommendations made in the May 2024 GAO report?
• How does the VA plan to address system bugs and processing delays within the BTSSS to ensure that all veterans, regardless of their preferred submission method, receive timely reimbursements?
• What plans exist to expand resources and options for care available to veterans in Alabama’s Fifth Congressional District?

The Congressman’s fifth district has a significant number of veterans, many of whom rely on the VA for a variety of services. Almost 9.8%, or nearly 57,200 residents, of the population of Alabama’s Fifth Congressional District have veteran status, a higher rate than both Alabama at large and the majority of Congressional districts nationwide.

According to Strong, both the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General (OIG) and Government Accountability Office (GAO) reviews have already found significant issues with the reimbursement system nationwide.

Austen Shipley is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @ShipleyAusten