[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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