Veterans' Issues

Veterans' Health Care
The veterans' health care system is in a state of crisis. Hundreds of thousands of enrolled veterans are currently being denied timely access to quality health care. An average of 200,000 veterans are waiting six months or more for appointments at VA hospitals. As a veteran myself, I believe that this restriction of care for the men and women who so proudly served our nation is a disgrace. Our government made a commitment to those who served and I for one believe that we ought to honor it by providing the best possible health care to every veteran who needs it.

The decline in the availability and quality of care is the direct result of inadequate funding by the Bush Administration and Congress. For nearly a decade, the Republican leadership's desire to cut government spending has resulted in too little funding for the VA medical system. Despite the growing demand for care and the increase in enrollment in VA health programs, funding has not even kept up with the rate of inflation.

This year is no different. The president's budget falls far short of funding veterans' needs. The Republican leaders in Congress promised to do better for veterans, but their budget plans provide the same inadequate amount of funding as President Bush's proposal.

In a joint press release, the major veterans' advocacy organizations denounced the inadequate funding, stating that, "This meager increase is simply inadequate to provide health care to sick and disabled veterans, and represents a flagrant disregard for promises made to veterans by this Congress." I wholeheartedly agree.

We need to fund veterans' health care at a higher level that keeps pace with the rising cost of providing it and the growth in the number of veterans enrolled. We should be working to address the long waiting times and reduced services that veterans are already experiencing by providing more resources.

Our wounded troops returning from service in Iraq are overcoming grave injuries such as amputations, traumatic brain injuries and severe wounds. These brave men and women -- many of whom will now rely upon the VA for their health care -- deserve access to the best medical care, rehabilitative services and assistive technologies available and a state of the art health care system uniquely created to respond to these needs. I am working every day, on behalf of today's veterans and future generations, to fulfill our nation's promise of the best quality care for every veteran who needs it.

Fair Allocation of Veterans Health Care in the Northeast
Because it does not account for regional differences in health care costs, the formula that allocates veterans health care funding across the country, the Veterans Equitable Resource Allocation (VERA), effectively penalizes veterans in the Northeast, particularly in the Hudson Valley region. Funds that used to come to the Northeast are now sent to the South and West. Due to these funding reductions, since 1995, the VA's Hudson Valley Health Care system has cut the number of employees by 34 percent and the number of beds by 52 percent. Meanwhile the number of patients has increased by 76 percent and the number of visits has risen by 84 percent. Congress's investigative arm, the General Accounting Office (GAO) conducted a study that confirmed that VERA does not allocate resources around the country in proportion to need.

For several years I have offered an amendment to prevent the VA from using the VERA formula to allocate veterans medical dollars. I have also joined with several of my Northeast colleagues in introducing two bills that would require the VA to devise a truly equitable formula for allocating veterans medical care dollars so that all of our veterans, regardless of where they live, will have access to the same quality of medical care they have all earned.

I will continue fighting to bring equal access to health care to veterans in the Northeast.

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