The Department of Veterans Affairs is working hard to bring adequate health care to the country's millions of veterans. The sprawling new VA outpatient clinic in western Fayetteville is a prime example of the effort.
 
But as Vietnam-era veterans age and need more care, and growing numbers of veterans from our longest-ever wars in Iraq and Afghanistan seek help, it's doubtful that the VA alone will ever be able to serve them all well and promptly.
 
That's why Congress passed the Veterans Choice Act two years ago, giving many veterans the option of seeking care through hometown health care providers.
 
Now Sen. Richard Burr, the North Carolina Republican, has filed the Veterans Choice Improvement Act, which will extend those benefits and eliminate many hurdles - including slow payments to providers - that prevent the act from succeeding.
 
Good.
 
North Carolina's other senator, Thom Tillis, is a co-sponsor of the bill. Both say they've heard from veterans who continue to be blocked from the care that's been promised to them. Burr's bill would also make the Veterans Choice program permanent. That's the right move to make. Providing the care is more important than choosing a bureaucracy to do the work.

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