[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 77 (Wednesday, May 21, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3228-S3229]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          VETERANS HEALTH CARE

  Mr. MORAN. Mr. President, there has been a lot of conversation among 
many of us here in the Senate and last week in the Veterans' Affairs 
Committee about the circumstances we find ourselves in at the 
Department of Veterans Affairs and its ability to provide the necessary 
care and benefits for our military men and women who have become and 
are becoming veterans.
  What we heard last week at the Veterans' Affairs Committee was very 
disturbing to me because it still appears that the Department of 
Veterans Affairs has no plan to solve circumstances our veterans find 
themselves in. Who in this country would we expect to have access in 
the most timely fashion to the highest quality of care other than those 
who served our country and who were promised that? A commitment was 
made to them to make certain that those benefits would be made 
available. They were told that would be the case.
  I went home this weekend. Part of our job is to help people. Every 
week at the end of the week I get what is called a weekly State report. 
I and other members of the Senate have staff who spend significant 
amounts of time trying to solve people's problems with government. We 
call it case work.
  Every week I get a report of people who called my office to tell me 
something they want me to know, people who contacted me asking for help 
with a variety of federal agencies. But it struck me as so evident in 
reading my report from my State staff about the circumstances that our 
veterans find themselves in. So every week there is a report that I 
read generally at the end of the week, on the weekend. It is really 
page after page of things that have happened involving me and my staff 
and our relationship with Kansans who have a story to tell, who have a 
concern to raise, who have a request for how I vote. This week's staff 
report I thought I would highlight for my colleagues. My guess is that 
the circumstances that Kansan veterans find themselves in is probably 
no different for me than it is for my other colleagues here in the 
Senate.
  These are just reports from Kansans who called or stopped by my 
office or wrote to us this week at home looking for help, asking me to 
help them solve their problem and telling a story about their 
relationship with the Department of Veterans Affairs.
  A veteran from Hutchinson, KS, called to tell us that he filed a 
claim with the VA. It has been filed for 6 months, and he is still 
awaiting a decision. Unfortunately, that is all too common. A veteran 
from Norton, KS, filed a claim for service due to Agent Orange. He has 
been diagnosed with cancer and is seeking treatment through the VA. He 
has been informed that it could take 7 to 8 months before the VA will 
examine his claim, and while his cancer is not curable, it is 
treatable. And yet he has a 7- to 8-

[[Page S3229]]

month waiting period before he can receive benefits.
  A veteran from Salina, KS, in the central part of our State indicates 
that he received double vaccinations before he was deployed to Desert 
Storm due to the fact that his predeployment package had been lost. He 
indicates he now suffers from several health conditions as a result and 
has been informed that the VA denies his benefits.
  A veteran from Hutchinson, north of Wichita, indicated he has been 
fighting with the VA for 7 years on appeal. He has something pending 
with VA. They provided him an answer that was unsatisfactory, and he is 
appealing that decision. He claims the VA has continued dragging out 
his appeal process, and he has difficulty finding updates on his appeal 
when he contacts the VA. That is an example of someone who called the 
office and asked for help.
  A veteran from Wichita said his doctors discovered a mass on his 
brain, and it will require an MRI to determine what the mass is. The 
earliest appointment available for him is on June 30. He, of course, as 
all of us would be, is concerned over that long wait. This is a veteran 
who has been diagnosed with a mass on his brain, doesn't know what it 
is, needs an MRI--exactly what a doctor would order to get additional 
diagnostic information--and cannot get the MRI until June 30.
  A veteran from Junction City--which is a community that is adjacent 
to Fort Riley where a significant number of veterans and military 
retirees reside--indicates that he is living in a nursing home. He is 
100-percent service connected with a disability and the VA is currently 
paying for his nursing home services. He has recently been informed 
that his physical therapy will no longer be covered by the VA and they 
are discontinuing payment but offer no explanation as to why. He filed 
an appeal late last year and has not received a response or status 
update from the VA since that request.
  A veteran from Lawrence has had an appeal pending with the VA for 
over 1\1/2\ years and wants our help because he has received no 
communication from the VA in more than a year.
  A veteran from Overland Park, KS--a suburb of Kansas City--is the 
primary caregiver for his wife who suffers from Alzheimer's. He has had 
tremendous difficulty in working with the VA to schedule appointments 
when he can be away from her to receive his treatments from the VA.
  A daughter of a veteran from Wichita who passed away in the Wichita 
VA is concerned about the events that took place while he was in the 
care of the VA.
  A veteran who lives north of Bird City, KS, is a category 1 disabled 
marine veteran due to a service-connected disability. He indicates that 
he has had two heart attacks and is now paying for stress tests and his 
own medical bills out of pocket because the VA has denied him fee 
basis. What that means is if you are a veteran in Bird City, KS, which 
is the very northwest corner of our State, access to a VA hospital is a 
long way away, and that fee basis allows the veteran to receive care 
and treatment from a doctor and hospital closer to their hometown or 
neighborhood.
  My point is that the people who are most deserving of care and 
attention are not receiving the care and attention they need. The 
Department of Veterans Affairs is supposed to provide the services and 
benefits earned and promised to those veterans. This is not anything 
that is out of the ordinary.
  This report is something I read every week, and the reports that I 
convey to my colleagues here on the floor of the Senate are not 
unusual. I suppose what is unusual is that the number is increasing. 
What used to be a shorter list of problems with the VA has grown over 
time to be a longer and longer list.
  I have been asking for a plan by the Department of Veterans Affairs 
from its top leadership, Secretary Shinseki, to explain to me, the 
Senate, the American people, and veterans what the Department of 
Veterans Affairs is going to do to meet the needs of these and other 
veterans across our country.
  As I have indicated on the Senate floor before on this topic, if we 
are incapable of caring for our veterans today, how are we going to be 
capable of taking care of veterans in the future as more and more 
military men and women return from our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? 
The physical and mental circumstances those veterans will find 
themselves in will be even more difficult and challenging.
  We have an aging veteran population from World War II and now Vietnam 
veterans will most likely be needing more care and treatment from the 
Department of Veterans Affairs. What we need is the leadership that is 
necessary to meet the needs of these veterans and a commitment that the 
status quo is unacceptable and that the bureaucratic culture at the 
Department of Veterans Affairs is not something that is going to 
remain. There is going to be a concerted effort to make certain that 
the Department meets the needs of those who served and sacrificed for 
our country.
  Again, who, other than those who served our country, would we expect 
to be at the top of the list to receive the most timely and highest 
quality of care than those who served our Nation? It seems to me that 
as these issues are raised, we have a Department of Veterans Affairs 
that is doing damage control. What we need is a Department of Veterans 
Affairs that reduces the damage being done to the veterans--the men and 
women who served our country--in Kansas and across our Nation.
  I yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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