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Washington, D.C. — Steve Buyer, the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, successfully amended the House version of the national health care reform bill (H.R. 3200) to protect veterans from potentially harmful provisions.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously approved two of Buyer’s amendments, and Chairman Henry Waxman agreed to work with him on technical issues that would potentially allow an additional four amendments to be offered later.

The first amendment would ensure that nothing in the bill would affect veterans’ or servicemembers’ freedom of choice to retain health insurance in addition to health care provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) or the Department of Defense (DOD). 

“The Democrats’ national health care bill gives bureaucrats the authority to determine whether individuals enrolled in VA health care have acceptable coverage,” Buyer said. “If VA health care is considered ‘qualified’ coverage, a veteran enrolled in VA health care would be prohibited from obtaining additional health insurance.”

“In 2007, almost eighty percent of veterans enrolled in VA health care had additional health coverage. My amendment would protect and preserve their freedom to have multiple health care options.”

Buyer’s second amendment would ensure that the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of VA retain decision making authority for their respective department’s health care systems.

“My amendment would make it absolutely clear that VA and DOD set the priorities to meet the needs of our service members and veterans, and that the Departments would never be challenged or obstructed by a secretary or commissioner from another sector of government.”

“Our servicemembers and veterans require specialized medical care that is unique and separate from civilian health care, and they should not be subjected to uninformed bureaucratic decisions of some unrelated government official.”

Buyer received assurance from Chairman Waxman that he would continue to work with him on amendments that would exempt veterans from a punitive tax, eliminate a potential disincentive for employers to hire National Guard and Reserve Members, and ensure that VA retains authority to bill any new public health insurance plan for VA care provided for non-service connected conditions.

Buyer concluded, “Overall, H.R. 3200 is not a good bill.  However, my job as a legislator and advocate for America’s veterans is to improve it as much as possible. My amendments address shortcomings in the bill and I will continue to work on the additional improvements we discussed this evening." 

For more news from House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Republicans, please go to:  

http://republicans.veterans.house.gov/ 

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