After a rough 24 hours of bad press, including a story posted on Drudge yesterday, question about the issue at yesterday's press briefing, and op-eds in today's Wall Street Journal and New York Post, President Obama has abandoned the idea of switching to "third party billing" for the VA.

In a nutshell, the change would make veterans' private insurance companies take responsibilty for covering medical costs related to war related injuries instead of the Veterans Administration, a move critics argued would end up hurting veterans and their families. Full text of a statement by Robert Gibbs below the jump.

Statement from Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on the President's Strong Commitment to America's Veterans:

The President has consistently stated that he is committed to working with veterans on the details of the 2010 VA Budget Proposal. The President demonstrated his deep commitment to veterans by proposing the largest increase in the VA budget in 30 years and calling VSO and MSO leaders into the White House for an unprecedented meeting to discuss various aspects of the budget proposal. In considering the third party billing issue, the administration was seeking to maximize the resources available for veterans; however, the President listened to concerns raised by the VSOs that this might, under certain circumstances, affect veterans and their families' ability to access health care. Therefore, the President has instructed that its consideration be dropped. The President wants to continue a constructive partnership with the VSOs and MSOs and is grateful to those VSOs and MSOs who have worked in good faith with him on the budget proposal.