Directing the Clerk of the House to Make A Correction in the Enrollment of H.R. 2423

Floor Speech

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Ms. DUCKWORTH. Madam President, as in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. 1573 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration. I further ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

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Ms. DUCKWORTH. Madam President, I am disappointed that the majority has objected to passing our bipartisan legislation.

Every Senator should support a simple fix to assure veterans enrolled in the VA system can obtain preventive medications without out-of- pocket costs.

All Americans deserve access to the best healthcare possible, especially the veterans who signed up to defend our Nation. Yet, because of this objection, our veterans will continue to pay more for essential preventive medications compared to every other insured American.

One of the Affordable Care Act's critical patient protections was prohibiting insurance companies and other health systems, including the Department of Defense's own TRICARE, from charging copayments for drugs that are designated as preventive by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.

The ACA recognized that preventing serious illness, such as heart disease and breast cancer, may help avoid complex and costly medical treatments down the line.

Most importantly, preventive medicine may also increase patient survival odds. That is why the ACA required every insurer to cover preventive medications at no additional cost to enrollees.

The time has come to expand this vital patient protection to cover veterans enrolled in VA healthcare. Congress has the power to stop veterans from being the only ensured Americans who are charged copays and out-of-pocket fees for essential drugs and potentially lifesaving preventive health medication. This includes everything from critical vaccinations to common medications such as aspirin to lower the risk of heart disease and more advanced drugs such as tamoxifen inhibitors to lower the risk of breast cancer.

The question is simply, Does the Senate majority in this Congress have the will to exercise this power to swiftly fix the problem?

Unfortunately, today's objection provided a disappointing answer. I hope the majority will reconsider its opposition to passing the bipartisan Veterans Preventive Health Coverage Fairness Act by unanimous consent.

I am confident that a Democratic House majority would act swiftly to pass S. 1573 if we can get this commonsense bill to that Chamber. After all, I am confident that if asked, the majority of Americans--if not all Americans--would agree it is simply wrong to force veterans to pay more for essential preventive medications that are critically important to heart disease and building bone density.

This should not be controversial. It is certainly viewed as a commonsense legislative update by the veterans community.

That is why my bipartisan bill has been endorsed by the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, the American Legion, the Disabled American Veterans, and the Paralyzed Veterans of America.

Making sure veterans enrolled in the VA system can obtain preventive medications without paying out of pocket should be something every Senator can agree on.

Senate Democrats certainly share this conviction. That is why every Member of the Democratic caucus agreed to pass the bipartisan Veterans Preventive Health Coverage Fairness Act right now.

Unfortunately, today's objection proves that not every Member of the Republican conference shares this conviction.

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