[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 6, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E22]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         INTRODUCTION OF THE VETERANS HEALTH EQUITY ACT OF 2009

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CAROL SHEA-PORTER

                            of new hampshire

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, January 6, 2009

  Ms. SHEA-PORTER. Madam Speaker, today, I introduced The Veterans 
Health Equity Act of 2009. This legislation requires the Department of 
Veterans Affairs to ensure that every State has a full-service veterans 
hospital, or access to equivalent care in-state. I have been calling 
for the VA to provide full-service medical care to New Hampshire's 
veterans since October of 2007 and introduced identical legislation in 
the 110th Congress.
  New Hampshire has not had a full-service veterans hospital since 2001 
and is the only State without a full-service VA hospital or comparable 
facility. While New Hampshire may be a small State, it has a veteran 
population over 130,000.
  Because we lack a veterans hospital, New Hampshire's veterans are 
often forced to travel out-of-state for medical care. Veterans 
traveling from the most Northern parts of the State may have to travel 
three hours to Manchester and then may be forced to travel up to 2 
hours to Boston, if they are referred there for their care.
  Unfortunately, this routinely happens--each year, hundreds of 
patients are referred to the Boston, MA or White River Junction, VT 
facilities.
  It is simply a matter of fairness that our veterans in New Hampshire 
be afforded the same services as veterans in every other State. Though 
New Hampshire may be a small State, even smaller States with fewer 
veterans have full-service care available.
  I am a realist, and a fiscal conservative. That is why my legislation 
does not require the VA to construct a full-service hospital in 
Manchester if it is not economically feasible. Instead, the Department 
could work with health care providers in the state to provide care 
through local hospitals.
  The Manchester VA facility has done a great job of reaching out to 
local partners and getting our vets access to as much local care as 
possible within their current restrictions. In fact, they have 
submitted a business plan that would allow them to contract with more 
local health care providers. I urge the Department to strongly consider 
this business plan. Its approval would make a big difference in the 
quality and accessibility of care for New Hampshire's veterans.
  If the VA will not consider restoring Manchester to a full-service 
facility or ensuring that New Hampshire veterans have access to care in 
New Hampshire, Congress must do so.
  Our veterans, regardless of the services they need, deserve the same 
care their counterparts receive in every other State. It is 
unconscionable that we deny them this full-service care and instead 
offer them ad hoc services.
  I will continue to work with the Director of the New Hampshire VA and 
with the new Obama Administration to ensure that our veterans have care 
in New Hampshire. Last summer's expansion of radiation services proves 
that the VA can work to ensure that local care is available. It is time 
for the VA to go further and for the government to live up to the 
promises we've made to those who have served so honorably.

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