WASHINGTON – Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins are joining with senators from New England in urging the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to support $54 million in additional funding for veterans’ health care in Maine and the region.

“Maine veterans deserve to know they are receiving the best possible health care – and that means providing adequate funding for services in our region. Unfortunately, the VA’s regional funding strategy has shifted funds away from New England. This additional $54 million in funding, requested by the VA regional director in Boston, will make a real difference both at Togus and throughout the VA health system,” said Snowe and Collins, in a joint statement.

The Maine senators joined with Sens. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Judd Gregg, R-N.H., and others in urging acting Veterans Affairs Secretary Hershel Gober to approve the $54 million in supplemental funding for the VA’s VISN 1 requested by regional director Jeanette Chirico-Post. The funding will permit facilities in the region to maintain their normal operations as increasing health costs offset the benefit of the VA’s cost-savings efforts.

In making the request, the senators noted that despite an increase of 24 percent in prescription drug costs in the past year, the New England VA office has kept pharmaceutical costs below the national average. Likewise, mandated pay raises, weather-related adjustments and construction of six community-based outpatient clinics have increased costs in the Northeast region.

The senators said the funding also will help compensate for increased long-term care costs for veterans as required under the Millennium Heath Care Act passed last year, which provides long-term and emergency room care for veterans with service-connected disabilities of more than 20 percent.

“VISN 1 continues to do all it can to become more efficient, but many of these costs cannot be met without jeopardizing the care to the region’s veterans. In order for the VISN to continue to provide New England veterans with the quality of care they deserve, we strongly urge the VA to authorize the $54 million in supplemental funding requested by the region,” the senators said.