Comment on AN55-Proposed Rule-Unknown Submitter

The proposed regulation aims to prevent the VA from being subject to automatic offsets that a third party payer would impose in order to balance a previous debt. From an accounting stand point, it is impossible to document the reimbursement process when automatic offsetting occurs. Installing a system for third party payers to use in order to recover costs is an organized and appropriate response to the situation at hand. It will allow the VA to track the accounts more efficiently, as opposed to having money being taken from unrelated accounts in order to balance out another. With this system in place, a few things will change. How long will the process take from submitting a claim to receiving the reimbursement? Is there a way for the third party to check the status of a given request? If the third party payer owes the VA, will this system work in reverse? Most importantly, why are the third party payers paying more than the appropriate amount? If the initial process of payment was correct, the VA would have no use for a system of reimbursement.