Washington ? The Veterans Affairs Department will suspend enrollment today for higher-income vets seeking health care for nonmilitary-related ailments ranging from routine care to heart disease and diabetes.

The suspension, scheduled to last through 2003, goes against VA policy set in 1996 when Congress ordered the agency to open health care to nearly all veterans. The change is expected to affect about 164,000 veterans.

The chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., said the decision was disappointing but “underscores the need to develop long-term solutions to VA’s health care funding problems.”

VA Secretary Anthony Principi said the agency had been struggling to provide adequate health care to a rapidly rising number of veterans. The VA’s patient population ballooned from 2.9 million in 1996 to 6.8 million today, Principi said.

The enrollment suspension applies to those considered the lowest priority for benefits, veterans with the highest incomes and no military service-related health problems, known as Category 8 veterans.

The 6.8 million veterans already enrolled in the VA, including 1.4 million Category 8 veterans, would not be affected by Principi’s decision. The VA estimates about 164,000 Category 8 veterans would have enrolled this year.

About 18.2 million U.S. veterans do not use VA health care.