The fix is broken.Two years ago Congress created the Veterans Choice Program after scandals revealed that some veterans were waiting months to get essential medical care. The $10 billion program was designed to get veterans care quickly by letting them choose a doctor outside the VA system. Now Congress and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs are pushing through new legislation to fix the program.Irvin Bishop Small served in the Navy for 10 years. Like most VA patients, he doesn't have a war wound — he has a set of worn-out knees and ankles from lugging heavy gear up and down ladders on a ship. Surgery didn't help, and now it hurts to walk."For me to just go up and down the deck a couple times, by the time I'm done, my toes are starting to go numb, my ankles are starting to feel like somebody's wrapping a molten metal band around it," says Small, 41. "And if I keep going, I lose all feeling in my feet."Between the pain and the painkillers, and all his medical appointments, it's
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