Senator Calls for Extended Medical Veterans Benefits for Post-9/11 Military
Although a group of Congressional auditors recently released a report accusing some veterans of “double dipping” into both Social Security and veterans benefits, a Senator is now using his last action in office to call for extended medical veterans benefits for military who fought in post-9/11 wars.
Montana Democrat John Walsh called for the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee to double the period of automatic medical veterans benefits for post-9/11 combat veterans, such as those returning from the Iraq War or from a tour in Afghanistan.
On November 20th, Walsh spoke before a committee and asked them to extend the automatic eligibility period at Veterans Affairs facilities from 5 years to a full decade. The provision was included in a huge Veterans Affairs and veterans benefits reform bill which Congress considered earlier this year, but which the Senate failed to pass in February.
Walsh also introduced separate legislation to extend veterans benefits for those specific veterans for 15 years, under the Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act.
“Extending the combat eligibility for prioritized care at the VA is an immediate and affordable option that we should pass this Congress,” Walsh told committee members. “We shouldn’t wait another day.”
Currently, veterans benefits cover 5 years of health care at VA hospitals, regardless of whether the injury or illness is combat-related.
“As the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq wind down, many American families are welcoming back sons, daughters, husbands and wives who are changed people. … We owe them the opportunity to heal, whether their wounds are seen or unseen,” Walsh said.
However, the action could increase wait times at Veterans Affairs hospitals, which are struggling to officer medical treatment to their current existing list of veterans who receive veterans benefits. The average wait time across the country is decreasing, according to a recent report, but many VA hospitals still have wait lists of a month or more. The ideal wait time, according to the VA, is 14 days or less.
At the Phoenix VA in Arizona, the problem of wait times and secret waiting lists for sick veterans caused a national uproar earlier this year. Now, the Veterans Affairs Department has removed Sharon Helman, director of the Phoenix VA Healthcare System, for her lack of oversight and misconduct on the job.
“Lack of oversight and misconduct by VA leaders runs counter to our mission of serving Veterans, and VA will not tolerate it,” VA secretary Robert McDonald said. “We depend on VA employees and leaders to put the needs of veterans first and honor VA’s core values of ‘integrity, commitment, advocacy, respect and excellence.’”
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