[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 13163]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    STATEMENT OF CONGRESSMAN BETO O'ROURKE INTRODUCING THE HEALTHY 
                      TRANSITIONS FOR VETERANS ACT

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                           HON. BETO O'ROURKE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, August 2, 2013

  Mr. O'ROURKE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce bipartisan legislation 
that will assist servicemembers as they transition back to civilian 
life. We have a fundamental responsibility to provide for the needs of 
our veterans who have sacrificed their comfort and safety for ours. The 
Healthy Transitions for Veterans Act will help us meet that 
responsibility by requiring the Department of Defense (DoD) to perform 
two simple and common sense tasks:
  1. Provide a comprehensive physical examination to all servicemembers 
of the active, guard, and reserve components when they separate from 
military service.
  2. Provide separating servicemembers with an electronic copy of their 
complete medical records.
  Currently, servicemembers in the Guard and Reserve are not required 
to have physical examinations when separating from military service. 
This can result in a lack of documentation of service-connected 
injuries and medical conditions and is one of the reasons that former 
Guard and Reserve members who file disability claims with the VA are 4 
times more likely to get an unfavorable decision than their active duty 
counterpart.
  Providing all servicemembers the ability to take ownership of their 
complete health record will also ensure a smoother transition into the 
VA health care system as DoD and VA struggle to make their systems 
interoperable. For veterans who may apply for VA benefits, having their 
full medical record from the military will make the application process 
more efficient. VA employees would not have to track down evidence or 
engage in time consuming correspondence with the applicant to locate 
medical records from the DoD. This is good not just for the individual 
veteran, but for the entire VA system that continues to struggle to 
reduce the claims backlog.
  I have the honor of representing Fort Bliss and the 33,000 active 
duty soldiers stationed there. I also represent nearly 80,000 veterans. 
All of these individuals, at one point in his or her life, wrote a 
blank check made payable to ``The United States of America'' for an 
amount of ``up to and including my life.'' Our responsibility to these 
men and women does not end when we bring them home from war. I urge all 
of my colleagues to support this legislation and help guarantee our 
servicemembers make a healthy transition back to civilian life.

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