One of the most important obligations our nation has to its veterans is healthcare. In Fiscal Year 2005 alone, the Veterans Health Administration provided healthcare to 5.5 million veterans, included specialized services such as blind rehabilitation, spinal cord injury care and prosthetics.

Unfortunately, veterans’ healthcare has faced funding shortfalls in recent years and continued efforts to impose unfair enrollment fees and co-pay increases. In July 2005, the Department of Veterans Affairs acknowledged that it had underestimated the funding levels needed for healthcare for Fiscal Years 2005 and 2006, leading Congress to approve emergency funding to fill the gap.

Rep. Levin has strongly supported efforts to provide funding adequate to meet our veterans’ health care needs. Right now, Congress decides every year how much, or how little, to spend on health care for our veterans. That is why Rep. Levin has co-sponsored legislation (H.R. 515) that would prevent the Administration and Congress from short-changing veterans health care by making the funding mandatory. That way, our veterans would be guaranteed the health care they deserve.