Veterans Employment, Education, and Healthcare Improvement Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, today I rise in support of H.R. 3016, the Veterans Employment, Education, and Healthcare Improvement Act.
I want to thank the chairman for yielding and his leadership. As we have heard today, this is something that truly does bring us together. As someone who continues to serve in the Air Force and looking at my brothers and sisters in arms, this is something we should be about.
I want to thank my colleague from Ohio (Mr. Wenstrup) for bringing this important legislation to the floor, including language from my legislation, H.R. 423, concerning VA post-delivery care services.
I also want to thank Dr. Roe from Tennessee for his amendment that would extend the coverage for a female veteran's post-delivery care to 42 days.
Female veterans face unique challenges, especially when many of the services available to them are designed for males. One of the most significant problems female veterans face is access to health care.
Currently, the VA is authorized to provide up to 7 days of post- delivery care for a female veteran's newborn baby. Mr. Roe's amendment will expand coverage to 42 days, the length that the VA currently provides for mothers.
Females represent the fastest growing group of veterans who are enrolling in VA health care, and many of them are mothers or soon will be. It is past time for the VA to expand its care and services to meet the needs of the female veteran. These women have risked their lives to protect our Nation, and our responsibility to them doesn't end when they are no longer serving on Active Duty. In fact, their service to our country may jeopardize the very lives of their future children, meaning our responsibility to them is even greater.
Research shows that having PTSD in the year before delivery increases a woman's risk of premature delivery by 35 percent. Premature infants typically need longer hospitalizations after they are born. I know what it is like to be the parent of a little baby who needed intensive medical care for an extended period of time from the moment she was born. By the way, she is getting ready to turn 24 right now.
Any new mother who has given selflessly to her country shouldn't have to worry about Congress standing in her way as she tries to give selflessly to her own child.
I thank my colleague and Chairman Miller for their leadership on this issue, and I would urge the passage of this bill.
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