VA says it will relax 40-mile rule for private medical care

Baloney or BS which ever you prefer. I live over 45 miles to the nearest hospital by road. However it is just under 40 if you fly so they claim that we are under 40. Also as a cancer survivor I need blood monitoring and medications. If I depended on the VA I would have been dead before I got my first treatment.

Having an independent and (reasonably) reliable way of establishing that one has met the criteria rather than leaving it up to some bureaucrat whose performance is graded on "case closures" [and a denial of benefits counts as the easiest way to close a case] is a good thing.

Now, what about the case of the veteran who doesn't drive but lives 39.9 "driving miles" from the VA site and has to spend three or four hours to get to the VA site using public transit? [NOTE 1:- Using "The Universal Law of Bureaucracy" that appointment would be scheduled for 0830. Applying the First Corollary to that law - the appointment would be cancelled around one hour prior to that when you didn't answer your phone and confirm that you were going to be coming in.]