"Supporting Our Veterans is Critical to Keeping America Safe, Secure, and Free"
"Supporting our veterans is critical to keeping America safe, secure, and free."
I recently had the opportunity to spend a week in the district talking with many of you about veterans' healthcare. I held workshops in Whatcom, Snohomish, and Island County that provided veterans with an opportunity to address their health care questions and concerns to representative from Veterans Affairs and TRICARE. This email highlights the two major concerns that surfaced at these workshops and provides an update on what I am doing in Congress to address these issues.
Veterans say "Build a Clinic Here"
Veterans in Northwest Washington are frustrated with the time it takes to travel down to the Seattle VA hospital in order to receive basic outpatient health care.
The 2nd Congressional district is home to over 75,000 veterans, many of which travel up to 100 miles to receive medical, dental, and mental health treatment from the Seattle VA Medical Center. This cannot continue to be the only health care resource for veterans living in northwest Puget Sound.
I am dedicated to securing a Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) in Northwest Washington. During the veterans' healthcare workshops it was encouraging to hear that the Puget Sound Department of Veterans Affairs understands these concerns and will submit an application requesting a CBOC in the north Puget Sound area. I have been working hard to make this CBOC a reality. I am excited by this development and will continue working with the VA to bring health care closer to where our veterans live.
Veterans say "Fight Healthcare Fee Increases"
Veterans are concerned about proposed fee increases to their health benefits.
The president's proposed FY2007 budget will raise health care costs for 1 million U.S. veterans by increasing their co-payments for prescription drugs from $8 to $15 and imposing a new $250 annual enrollment fee. These fees will drive at least 200,000 veterans out of the veterans' health care coverage they were promised. The budget also proposes to increase health care costs for military retirees enrolled in the TRICARE benefit program by raising enrollment fees and deductibles, and increasing pharmacy co-payments.
I successfully fought similar increases in the president's FY2006 budget, and will continue fighting to ensure that all of our veterans have access to the affordable health care they were promised. I am also a co-sponsor of legislation that will block increases to TRICARE health care premiums, deductibles, and co-payments.
Sincerely,
Rick Larsen
Member of Congress
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/speech/wa02_larsen/morenews/EmailUpdate_042506_Vets.html