House Committee Passes Six Veterans' Health Care Measures

Main Category: Veterans / Ex-Servicemen
Also Included In: Rehabilitation / Physical Therapy
Article Date: 18 May 2007 - 5:00 PDT

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The House Veterans' Affairs Committee on Tuesday by voice vote approved six veterans' health care bills that would expand free care for war veterans, establish brain injury research centers and make chiropractic care more accessible, among other things, CQ Today reports. Under one bill (HR 612), free health care for returning troops would be expanded from two to five years (Yoest, CQ Today, 5/15). The bill, which is geared toward veterans from the Persian Gulf War through present and future conflicts, aims to help those veterans who have health problems that appear years after they have completed military service (Leonatti, CongressDaily, 5/16). The committee by voice vote approved a substitute amendment to the legislation that would expand health care available retroactively to all veterans who meet the bill's criteria, rather than only those veterans discharged after its enactment. No funding estimates were included with the measure.

The committee also approved legislation (HR 2199) that would establish traumatic brain injury research centers and mandate a comprehensive program for treating traumatic brain injuries at Veterans Affairs health centers. Another bill (HR 1863) approved by the committee would authorize mobile veterans' centers to provide advice on the disability claims process.

The committee on Tuesday approved legislation (HR 1470) that would expand the availability of chiropractic care to 75 VA medical centers by 2009 and all VA medical centers by 2011. In addition, the committee approved legislation (HR 67) that would establish a grant program for state veterans' outreach programs. The bill was approved with a substitute amendment by Rep. John Hall (D-N.Y.) that would require county veterans' services offices to submit a three-year spending plan to be eligible for the grants.

The committee also approved legislation (HR 2239) that would expand eligibility for vocational rehabilitation to disabled troops not yet discharged from the military but who are likely to be discharged because of their condition. The committee on Tuesday also voted to refer back to subcommittee legislation (HR 2219) that would authorize $7.5 million to establish a 24-hour suicide prevention hot line (CQ Today, 5/15).

VA Memo
VA on Friday sent veterans organizations a four-page memo in response to a recent McClatchy investigation looking into VA's characterizations of the success of its health system, McClatchy/Raleigh News & Observer reports. The VA memo sent Friday said that McClatchy "makes a valid case that we need to be more careful with our numbers and our public statements," adding that the VA had not intended "to deliberately mislead anyone." The memo added that "VA has never claimed that the [RAND] study showed that we performed better than any other health care system in the nation." However, according to McClatchy/News & Observer, "comments pulled from VA and congressional Web sites indicate otherwise" (Adams, McClatchy/Raleigh News & Observer, 5/16).

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