Veterans Access to Care Act of 2014
Floor Speech
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Mr. Speaker, I first want to thank my good friend, the chairman, for the great work that he and his staff have been doing, and certainly the ranking member and his staff, who have worked so hard, along with the Members, to get this piece of legislation.
I have always said, as my fellow colleagues have said, that when one of our men and women go out and fight on a foreign battlefield, they should not come back and fight the bureaucracy of the VA. This is why this legislation is very, very important, that we address some of the issues.
As one of the original cosponsors, I think providing an alternative with this emergency bill, H.R. 4810, which is at the top of an emergency, will provide an alternative to those veterans.
I represent part of San Antonio, go through a lot of rural areas, go down to Laredo, then go through a lot of rural areas, and then go into the McAllen area, the Valley area. In that area, I think this legislation will be very, very useful in the sense that if somebody has to wait or somebody lives more than 40 miles away from the VA facility, then they should be able to go to one of the local providers in their home area to get that assistance. I think this will save the veterans a lot of trouble, time, and provide them care in their home area.
I believe also when they are provided services at a non-VA facility where they can be reimbursed at the rate of the VA, TRICARE, Medicare, whatever is greater, that is, again, another good alternative. The only thing I would caution my friends on is, let's be careful, because I have been pushing the alternative to work with the local providers, and there has been a problem with the VA where they don't provide the reimbursement to those providers on a timely basis, and we have got to make sure that we provide the oversight that if a provider comes in, a private provider, that they are reimbursed and paid promptly. Otherwise we are going to lose those providers.
Again, I certainly want to thank the chairman for the great work that he has been doing, the ranking member, the staff, and the other Members. This is a good piece of legislation, a good step forward, and I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 4810.
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