[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16892]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 16892]]

                      HEALTH CARE FOR OUR VETERANS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Reynolds). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moore) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, on June 19 I had community hours in Kansas 
City, Kansas, which is in my district. There were about 75 people who 
showed up to talk to me during a 2-hour block of period that Saturday 
morning. One of them was a man by the name of Jack Valentine.
  Jack appeared to me to be in his mid-60s and sat down and was very 
disturbed and started his conversation and our interview, our meeting, 
by handing me a copy of his Veterans Administration card and a copy of 
a letter Jack had received from the Veterans Administration.
  The letter read:

       Dear Mr. Valentine, I am pleased to confirm your enrollment 
     with the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care System. 
     You are in Enrollment Priority Group 7. For this fiscal year 
     through September 30, 1999, we are enrolling veterans in 
     Priority Group 7; however, we cannot assure that VA will be 
     able to continue your enrollment after September 30, 1999.

  What this letter told Jack Valentine was that in all likelihood his 
veterans' benefits, as far as prescription medication, would be 
terminated after September 30, 1999.
  Mr. Speaker, after Jack handed me the letter and I read the letter, 
he said to me:
  I have had three strokes, Congressman Moore. I have been in the 
hospital three times. My doctor told me that I need this blood pressure 
medication. If I do not have it, the next time I have a stroke, it will 
kill me.
  Jack has been told by his doctor that if he does not take his blood 
pressure medication, he is going to die. Jack has been told by the 
Veterans Administration that his prescription medication, his benefits, 
will most likely terminate on September 30, 1999.
  Jack Valentine is a 64-year-old veteran from Kansas City, Kansas, 
whose father, his grandfather, and great grandfather were all buried in 
military cemeteries. But on September 30, 1999, his Veterans 
Administration medical coverage will likely terminate and put him at 
risk for a stroke, a fatal stroke. He does not have any other health 
insurance. He is in Priority Group 7, which means he is above the low-
income threshold of $26,000 for a household of two, and his medical 
case is non-service related.
  This has become standard operating procedure for our Veterans 
Administration, delay until the last possible moment or deny the 
procedure until they just give up all hope.
  Jack was there and talked to me. Jack, when he handed me his card and 
his letter, started crying, and Jack said to me, Congressman Moore, I 
don't know where to go from here. I am so upset about this. I have 
thought about going to the Veterans Administration, up on the hospital 
steps there, Veterans Hospital, and committing suicide.
  Jack was at the end of his rope, and I was his last recourse. I say 
to my fellow colleagues: we are Jack's last recourse. For the past 5 
years, Congress has flat-lined the Veterans Administration budget. This 
is not any way to treat people to whom we owe a debt we can never 
repay. We should demand a quick turnaround time for claims. We should 
demand quality health care for our veterans. We need to fulfill our 
promise to our veterans. They laid down their lives in some cases, they 
gave of their time and their energy and sacrificed for us. We have a 
debt to those people, and we should repay the debt before, before we 
start massive, massive tax cuts. At the very least, we can fulfill the 
promise and the obligation we have to our veterans in this country.
  Do not make me go back home and tell Jack Valentine his veterans 
benefits, his medical coverage, his prescription benefits are going to 
terminate on September 30, 1999. As a Nation, we need to do the right 
and the honorable thing for our veterans. We need to fulfill the 
promise.

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