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One of the whistleblowers at the Manchester Veterans Affairs Medical Center said he plans to propose his workplace as a “test case” for national reform of the veterans health care system when he meets with VA Secretary David Shulkin this week. Dr. Ed Kois, the head of the facility’s spinal cord clinic, said he hopes to peel away restrictive layers of bureaucracy at the state’s only veterans hospital and hold it up as a model for the rest of the country. (Reid, 7/31)

While almost every eye on Washington, D.C., last week focused on the Senate and its failed efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, another health care battle continued on the other side of the Capitol. Less than three years into existence, the Department of Veterans Affairs' Veterans Choice health program is nearly broke and often criticized for not achieving what it said it would. Lawmakers scrambled to reach a deal that would fund the program for six additional months before the August recess when the program was projected to be broke and would force veterans using the program to return to VA facilities — some hundreds of miles from their homes — to get medical care. (Lowary, 7/31)

For context: In May, the United States Department of Defense requested $639.1 billion for its 2018 fiscal year budget. The proposal, which aims to help America’s armed forces “get bigger and more lethal,” offers an itemized accounting of proposed upgrades, many of which dramatically exceed the total cost of estimates for transgender health care. (Leonard, 7/31)