Veterans
The Second Congressional District is home to nearly 75,000 veterans. One of my most important responsibilities as a member of Congress is representing the needs of those who have served time for their country. As this number grows with troops returning from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, issues of support, healthcare costs and facilities, and transportation will become increasingly more important.
Veterans in Northwest Washington are frustrated with the time it takes to travel down to the Seattle VA hospital in order to receive basic outpatient health care.
The 2nd Congressional district is home to over 75,000 veterans, many of whom travel up to 100 miles each way to receive medical, dental, and mental health treatment from the Seattle VA Medical Center. This cannot continue to be the only health care resource for veterans living in northwest Puget Sound. We need to bring veteran health care closer to veterans.
I have been a dedicated advocate for the placement of a Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) in Northwest Washington for nearly six years. In April, the Seattle VA Puget Sound Healthcare System submitted an application for a CBOC in our area. The application is currently under evaluation by VA headquarters in Washington, D.C. and a decision on the application is expected in the fall of 2006.
I remain optimistic and will continue to work with the Department of Veterans Affairs until we successfully secure a CBOC for the veterans of the 2nd Congressional District.
Many veterans in my district and across the country are forced to travel long distances to receive basic healthcare services from VA facilities. Those who are able to use their own vehicles to travel to and from scheduled appointments at VA Health Care facilities are currently reimbursed 11 cents per mile - an inadequate rate as the country faces soaring gas prices.
In September I plan to introduce legislation that would significantly raise the mileage reimbursement rate that all Veterans receive. This legislation will also create a $5 million competitive transportation grants program for rural Veterans service organizations.
The veterans in my district that live in rural and remote areas, particularly those without access to privately owned vehicles, are limited in their ability to travel to a VA health care facility. Many rural veterans are unable to receive the health care they need because of transportation obstacles. While there are programs, like the Department of Veteran Affairs Transportation Network, that are working hard to address these problems - demand is great and additional resources are needed to supplement this program.
By creating a competitive transportation grants program I hope to bring new resources and attention to the issues facing rural veterans. This annual $5 million grant program will assist successful programs and encourage creative solutions that will help Veterans who live in remote locations receive the health care they deserve.
Veterans are concerned about proposed fee increases to their health benefits.
The president's proposed FY2007 budget will raise health care costs for 1 million U.S. veterans by increasing their co-payments for prescription drugs from $8 to $15 and imposing a new $250 annual enrollment fee. These fees will drive at least 200,000 veterans out of the veterans' health care coverage they were promised. The budget also proposes to increase health care costs for military retirees enrolled in the TRICARE benefit program by raising enrollment fees and deductibles, and increasing pharmacy co-payments.
I successfully fought similar increases in the president's FY2006 budget, and will continue fighting to ensure that all of our veterans have access to the affordable health care they were promised. I am also an original co-sponsor of HR 4949 that prohibits increases in fees for military health care, including retired military. It is unacceptable to increase the enrollment feels, deductibles, and co-payments proposed by the Department of Defense for career uniformed service members and their families. I do not support shifting the larger share of the cost burdens of healthcare to our retired service members. I believe the bi-partisan opposition in Congress to stop these proposed increases has been a success for our military and retired veterans.
Congress and the Veterans Administration must meet the mental health needs of our military men and women, especially in light of current combat. That's why I co-sponsored H.R. 1588, the Comprehensive Assistance for Veterans Exposed to Traumatic Stressors Act, to improve the identification and treatment of post-deployment mental health conditions, including post-traumatic stress disorder. The federal government cannot repeat its misdirected healthcare policies of our servicemembers returning from the Vietnam War.
I have been a consistent supporter of full funding for concurrent receipt since coming to Congress in 2001. I am a cosponsor of H.R. 303, a bill that would allow veterans to get both their retirement pay and disability pay
As a member of the Armed Services Committee, I have worked with my colleagues to fight for full funding of concurrent receipt in the annual Defense Authorization bill. While there is currently a plan in place that gives concurrent receipt to retired veterans who are 50% or more disabled, the plan leaves out 480,000 veterans and will take entirely too long to implement.
Click here if you are interested in learning more about the partial funding currently in place for veterans with combat-related disabilities.
In July the U.S. House of Representatives approved the Veterans Small Business and Memorial Affairs Act (HR 3082) that makes a number of changes to current benefits programs run by the Veterans Affairs Department. The legislation contains a number of provisions to enhance small-business development among veterans; including contract incentives for veteran and disabled veteran-owned small businesses and their surviving spouses for a period of 10 years following the death of their veteran spouse. The legislation also provides educational benefits to National Guard members and provides provisions to enhance veterans' employment and training.
 WA
Dept of Veterans Affairs
Combat
Related Special Compensation Package
Department
of Veterans Affairs
Veterans
of Foreign Wars
American
Legion
Disabled
Veterans of America
Paralyzed
Veterans of America
Vietnam
Veterans of America
National
World War II Memorial
Korean
War Veterans Memorial
Vietnam
Veterans Memorial
|
This week on the
