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This week, as the nation honored our veterans, the press also focused attention on what the federal government should be doing. A number of editorials and op-eds focused on how to improve veterans' health care:
Editorial Support for Advance Appropriations for VA Medical Care
A Philadelphia Inquirer editorial indicated support for President-elect Obama's campaign promise to reform veterans health care funding. "What veterans organizations want, and which makes considerable sense, is to have Congress pass the VA's budget a year in advance, as it does with funding for some other programs. ... it would be a valuable tool in improving care for the 7.8 million veterans enrolled in the VA health system and others who are bound to join it in economic hard times."
Washington Times Op-ed: Congress Should Pass Veterans Health Care Budget Reform Act
The Washington Times published an opinion piece by DAV National Commander Raymond Dempsey, who wrote, "While fixing the economy will certainly be a dominant issue for both President-elect Obama and the 111th Congress, we hope, on this Veterans Day, that health care for our wounded warriors will also be a top priority." He went on to argue specifically for VA finance reform. "Congress should appropriate funding for the VA health care system one year in advance of when the funds are actually needed." The year-in-advance appropriation is similar to the funding mechanism Congress uses to fund low-income housing and energy assistance. It has received bipartisan support, including recently from President-elect Obama and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
Huffington Post Op-ed: Highlights Needs for Women Veterans and Family Caregivers
In addition to ensuring that VA has timely and predictable funding to adequately care for our nation's veterans, DAV National Legislative Director Joseph Violante laid out in a Huffington Post opinion piece the challenges facing family caregivers and women veterans. "The Department of Veterans Affairs system, a relic of a male-dominated military past, is simply unable to adequately treat the influx of women...Only eight percent of all VA medical centers across the country have a full-time female program manager. Sufficient female staff is vital to meeting the specialized needs of women veterans, particularly the 19 percent of women veterans surveyed by the VA between 2002-2006 who say they had experienced military sexual trauma."
Illinois Rep. Phil Hare Op-ed Calls for VA Health Care Funding Reform
Rep. Phil Hare (D-Ill.), member of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, penned an opinion piece for Springfield Illinois' paper, The State Journal-Register, discussing the work still to be done to provide adequate health care to our veterans. In addition to being the sponsor of mandatory funding legislation, Rep. Hare has joined in support of new legislation introduced in September that would, "...authorize appropriations for VA health care one year in advance of the start of the fiscal year."
About the Stand Up for Veterans Initiative
Stand Up for Veterans is an initiative of the Disabled American Veterans, an organization of 1.4 million disabled veterans who are focused on building better lives for disabled veterans and their families. The initiative seeks to find public policy solutions for all veterans, particularly those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, who have incurred devastating injuries and disabilities, including traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychological wounds of war. Please visit http://www.standup4vets.org/ to learn more about this effort.
Stand up for veterans. They stood up for us.
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