FILE – This June 21, 2013, file photo, shows the seal affixed to the front of the Department of Veterans Affairs building in Washington. The federal government wrote duplicate checks to doctors who provided care for veterans, costing taxpayers $128 million in extra payments over the last five years, according to a new watchdog report out this week. In nearly 300,000 cases, private doctors were paid twice – once by the Veterans Health Administration and another time by Medicare – for the same care provided to veterans from 2017 to 2021, the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General found in its report. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government wrote duplicate checks to doctors who provided care for veterans, costing taxpayers as much as $128 million in extra payments, according to a new watchdog report out this week. In nearly 300,000 cases, private doctors were paid twice — once by the Veterans Health Administration and another time by Medicare — for the same care provided to veterans from 2017 to 2021, the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General found in its report. There’s been a spike in those duplicate payments since 2020, when the program that allows veterans to seek care from private doctors was expanded.