Veterans will go to the front of the line at a private New Jersey health care system under a new program being started in response to problems with the federal Veterans Administration's health system.
Under the initiative announced Tuesday, veterans living in the seven southern New Jersey counties are being promised same-day primary care appointments and help from health care navigators at Cooper University Health Care. Veterans would be served at the hospital in Camden and at system clinics in southern New Jersey.
Cooper chairman George Norcross says the health system will provide care first and worry about payments later, likely absorbing some of the costs.
The program starts July 1. It comes after the VA reported long wait times for appointments at VA health clinics across the country.
