[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 98 (Tuesday, June 6, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1971-S1972]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Veterans' Health Care
Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, I want to begin today by noting that
it is D-day, and 79 years ago today, we had brave men that stormed the
beaches at Normandy. There were Tennesseans among those, and
Tennesseans have chosen to very selflessly serve this country.
The ``Volunteer State'' has a long and rich tradition of military
service. They have fought in every major conflict in the history of our
country, going all the way to the Revolutionary War. Even our moniker,
``the Volunteer State,'' is a nod to that tradition. It was made famous
by the 5,000 citizen soldiers of the Tennessee Militia who left their
families at the drop of a hat to protect our young nation during the
War of 1812.
We have a responsibility to care for the brave men and women who
guarantee our freedom for future generations. As a Member of the Senate
Veterans Affairs Committee, I have spent the past few years watching
various officials fail at this task, especially as it relates to making
sure our veterans receive timely access to quality healthcare that they
deserve.
Despite increased facility staffing over the past several
administrations, despite each administration pushing for internal
process improvements and expanded community care and telehealth
options, the VA still cannot manage to perform this one basic task,
which is timely access to quality healthcare.
There are examples of this. I know the Acting President pro tempore
has them in the State of Vermont, and I have them in the State of
Tennessee. There is no better illustration of this than with the VA
facilities in Dover and Clarksville, TN. These are the only two VA
facilities in Tennessee within 50 miles of Fort Campbell, which is the
second largest Army installation in the mainland United States. It sits
on the Tennessee-Kentucky border.
The Fort Campbell area is home not only to thousands of Active-Duty
servicemembers, but thousands more veterans and their families live in
this area. So you would think the VA would pay some special attention
to this area, but, of course, that is not the case.
If veterans want to see a primary care provider at the VA--now, this
is a primary care provider. If these veterans in Tennessee want to see
a primary care provider, then, for the Clarksville facility, they have
to wait 48 days and 76 days at Dover. Think about that. This is not
anecdotal; those were the actual numbers released by the VA at 11:30
this morning. We double-checked the numbers. Think about that. If you
have a backache, if you have a cold, if you have bad headaches, if you
have a hearing issue, if you have a knee issue, just to see the primary
care physician, you will wait 76 days if you are going to the VA
facility in Dover, TN.
This is the reality for hundreds of thousands of our veterans across
the country. It is absolutely unacceptable. Congress has tried to
intervene. The Veterans Community Care Program, which we established as
part of the VA MISSION Act of 2018, allows veterans to seek care
outside the VA when wait times at those facilities exceed certain
benchmarks. The program has helped to alleviate some of those wait
times, but it is obvious there is still a lot of work that has to be
done on that.
Here is the problem. The problem is that the VA has wrapped this
program up in endless layers of redtape. It is obvious that the VA
employees and the union, I am sure, are not wanting individuals to get
into community care, so what do they do? They try to make this program
unacceptable. They don't want veterans in this program.
Just take a look at all of the hoops veterans have to jump through
before they can see a doctor. Look at this list. Bear in mind as you
look at this list that we promised these veterans--it was part of the
promise to them when they enlisted, when they raised their hand, when
they took that oath, when they signed up to serve, to protect, to
defend this Nation and our freedom. But here is what they have to do.
First of all, they have to request the appointment. They can't just
show up and say: I need to see a doctor. They have to request it, and
they have to wait for the VA to certify that they are eligible and to
do an eligibility review.
So they call and request the appointment, and the VA says: We are
going to get back to you. First of all, we have to verify your
eligibility.
Then it goes into a stack of things to be done. Once the bureaucrats
decide they are going to move forward on that request, on that case,
the veteran still has to wait for confirmation from the VA that they
can indeed go see the doctor. Then they have to wait for the VA to
prepare and review a referral for the primary care doctor. Only when
that comes in can they finally schedule the appointment.
But they are not done yet. There is still more. Before that veteran
can see a doctor, they need an authorization letter from the VA in
their hand--a paper copy of an authorization letter from the VA that
they take to the VA. How ridiculous can this possibly be?
Once they do finally see a doctor, they have to wait and hope the VA
remembers to pay the bill. Then, heaven forbid that veteran needs a
followup appointment or another referral.
This is why, in Clarksville, TN, all of these steps take 48 days and,
in Dover, TN, 76 days. In some parts of the country, it takes 100 days
to see a primary care physician.
This is a bureaucratic nightmare, and our Nation's veterans deserve
better than this. If Secretary McDonough and his friends can't get the
job done, then Congress is going to need to step in and intervene. That
is why I reintroduced the Veterans Health Care Freedom Act, which would
allow veterans
[[Page S1972]]
to bypass the VA's bureaucracy and choose the care they want to
receive.
The bill creates a 3-year pilot program within the VA's Center for
Care and Payment Innovation that will take the VA largely out of that
referral process. The VA can test-drive this program in at least four
different Veterans Integrated Services Networks. Those are called
VISNs. It would allow the veterans to find and schedule necessary
appointments at non-VA medical facilities.
In other words, if they want to go to a doctor in their hometowns, if
they want to go to a hospital in their hometowns, if they are taking
cancer treatments and they want to do that at the local hospitals, let
them do it, and send the bill to the VA.
It would also require the VA to give veterans information about
eligibility requirements, cost sharing, treatments, and providers so
that they have the information they need right there at their
fingertips to be able to make their decisions.
In doing this, we would give the VA 4 years to figure this out--to
run these pilot programs and to figure out how to let veterans get the
healthcare they need when they need it and at the facilities that are
most convenient for them. Surely to goodness, the VA ought to be able
to figure this out in 4 years.
We really owe it to our veterans to get them the best care as quickly
as possible. If we want to do that, we have to put more power into
their hands. Give them the information, the choices, the options. The
bureaucrats have proven to us time and time again that they are just
not going to make this easy. They are not going to make it simple for a
veteran to access community care.
In Tennessee, I hear from veterans all the time. They are a 2-hour or
a 3-hour drive away from a VA facility. Somebody has to take off work
and drive them to the appointments. Somebody has to take off work when
they have to go back for the referral. Let's let them go in their home
communities where they can access the care they need.
I am so committed to continuing to work on this to solve this problem
for our Nation's veterans. I am working with Chairman Tester, Ranking
Member Moran, and my colleagues on the Senate Veterans' Affairs
Committee so that we can make good on the promises we have made to our
veterans. It is time to stop the false promises to the men and women
who have served this Nation.
I would ask each Member of this Chamber for their support in bringing
the Veterans Health Care Freedom Act in front of the full committee for
consideration.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Markey). The majority leader.
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