washingtonscene
manner to enact legislation this year to give the VA the resources it needs to complete necessary reforms. In her testimony, Campos focused on
improving VA-sponsored community care, female veterans’ health care, upgrades to the appeals process, and stronger financial protections for military families. Though access to care has improved
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under the Choice Program, implementation has been difficult for the Veterans Health Administration because of the increased demand for services and the changing de- mographics of the veteran population. MOAA recommended increased focus
on reforming and consolidating the seven disparate community-care programs into a single program.
Campos commended the VA for improv- ing medical care and services for female veterans. “But there’s more to do,” she said. “Women veterans look to Congress to press the VA to eliminate all barriers preventing women from accessing integrated, compre- hensive care across the system.” The VA claims-management system
remains a top priority. MOAA supports a comprehensive, integrated strategy for improving the system, with emphasis on quality decisions at the front end of the claims process. Thanks to Congress and the VA, signifi-
cant progress has been made in reducing the initial claims backlog. However, it has come at a price: As new claims were pro- cessed more quickly, the appealed claims backlog has grown to over 400,000 cases. MOAA continues to work with the com- mittees and the VA to make essential re- forms in this area. Other recommendations discussed at the hearing and outlined in MOAA’s statement included: improving and expanding mental health care, suicide prevention, homeless vet- eran, and caregiver support programs;
36 MILITARY OFFICER MAY 2016
integrating educational assistance pro- grams under a unified GI bill architecture; authorizing service connection for “blue water” Navy Vietnam veterans who have one or more diseases on the Agent Orange presumptive list; making mandatory arbitration agree- ments in certain financial contracts unen- forceable under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act; and completing final passage of a bill to honor certain career reservists as “veterans of the Armed Forces of the United States.” “Our goal is to have an omnibus bill that this committee, Democrat and Republican alike, agrees to ... [so we can] let our veter- ans know that we do want accountability in the VA,” said Senate Veterans Affairs Com- mittee Chair Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.). “We want the Choice Program to work. We want caregivers providing care to those injured prior to Sept. 11, 2001, to have the same benefits of those injured afterward, and all the other things that we’ve worked on, and we’re close to getting there.” The Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee plans to pass an omnibus veterans bill by Memorial Day.
Your MOAA E
Letters Matter Thousands of letters arrived on Capitol Hill.
very year, MOAA provides tear-out letters in Military Of- ficer to encourage members to mail
physical letters to their elected officials. Members have asked whether these tear-out letters really make a difference or whether they even get through to the Hill in a timely way. MOAA recently visited the House Armed Services Committee offices to
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