Hill Country Veterans Council Information

We provided testimony to the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee on July 10, 2002, regarding VA and DOD strategies for furnishing appropriate health care to veterans who might have been exposed to environmental hazards during their military service. Observing that members of the Armed Forces are subject to exposure to many potentially harmful and injurious environmental hazards unique to the military, we emphasized the necessity for DOD to share information with VA regarding such exposures and for the two departments to cooperate fully on identification, treatment, and prevention regarding exposure to harmful hazards to minimize the adverse consequences to our people in uniform. We made specific recommendations to improve medical examination and other procedures for those who may have come into contact with toxins or other hazardous materials. We testified in a hearing before the House Veterans' Affairs Committee on July 16, 2002, on the issue of paying for some VA medical care through reimbursements from the Medicare program. Although the DAV supports the concept of reimbursement from Medicare for treatment of Medicare-eligible veterans' nonservice-connected disabilities, we voiced some concerns about H.R. 4939, the Veterans Medicare Payment Act of 2002. Namely, we objected to the lack of any distinction between service-connected and nonservice-connected disabilities for purposes of reimbursement. We believe the cost of treatment for service-connected disabilities is a cost of national defense that should be borne by the Government out of general tax revenues rather than the veteran's Medicare premiums. We repeated our position that VA should have the money from Medicare collections in addition to, not in place of, full appropriations, thereby permitting VA to use the extra money to improve its health care delivery beyond what it can do with the current limited appropriations. Again, we reminded the Committee that veterans earned the right to have their health care system funded as a mandatory program. On July 25, 2002, we provided for the Benefits Subcommittee of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee DAV's views on the effectiveness of the Transition Assistance Program (TAP) and the Disabled Transition Assistance Program (DTAP). These programs aid separating servicemembers in the transition from military service to civilian life. We noted the beneficial nature of these programs and recommended that they be expanded and improved to better serve a greater number of individuals leaving military service. In addition to these many congressional hearings in which we appeared as witnesses on a broad range of issues, we attended many more where other witnesses testified on veterans' issues and attended committee meetings conducted to mark up bills to be reported to the full House or Senate for a vote. As we come to our 81st National Convention this year, we are nearing the end of the 107th Congress. As is typical, final work on veterans' legislation is yet to be completed by Congress. While Congress has agreed upon a supplemental appropriations bill that includes a badly needed additional $417 million for veterans' medical care this year, neither the House nor Senate has a FY 2003 VA appropriations bill to consider at this time. The House has passed its annual defense authorization bill, with provisions included for phased-in concurrent receipt for veterans retired from the military on longevity with 60 percent or greater service-connected disabilities. The Senate passed its companion defense authorization bill with an amendment to authorize full concurrent receipt for all disabled longevity retired veterans with 20 or more years' service. A conference committee must now resolve the differences between the two bills. Of course, we are pressing to keep the Senate version, but the fight will be hard. The threat of a Presidential veto still hangs over this legislation and gives conferees an excuse to retain the less costly House provision, or worse, to do nothing. Our initiative for legislation to make VA health care a mandatory program is well under way and gaining acceptance and momentum in Congress. While we have support from the Veterans' Affairs Committees, persuading congressional leadership may be a greater challenge, simply because of the commitment of guaranteed funding it requires. Work is also proceeding on legislation urged by the DAV to improve the appellate processes for veterans. As this legislation is acted on by the Senate, we will intensify our efforts to get it moved forward in the House, where it has so far faced some resistance from the majority party. The House has passed several veterans' bills, and the Senate will be considering those bills and ones reported by its own Veterans' Affairs Committee in the near future. From this, we expect to achieve a few more of DAV's modest but meaningful legislative goals this year. Much of our work is undone, but we can see the fruits of our labor in the distance. Since I last reported to you, we have traveled far, but we have traveled together. We still have a considerable distance to tread before we reach our destination, but we will arrive there, and we will arrive together. All of us here can then look at each other with a gleam of pride in our eyes and celebrate for a short time the accomplishments we achieved together, working as a team. Then, we must promptly and deliberately move on, for there is always more important work waiting in our business of building better lives for America's disabled veterans and their families, and we will not get it done resting on our laurels. Our pause for celebration is therefore always a brief one. We cannot rest until all of America's wartime disabled veterans have been cared for. Our ultimate joy is in achievement for the benefit of disabled veterans, but we also achieve much in the joy of toiling together for our common cause. In the DAV, we face great challenges, but we have an extraordinary team, bound by the most honorable principles and noble goals. For the year ahead, I ask you to help me build and strengthen our team even more, because the challenges will grow ever more formidable. As life itself becomes ever more complex and daunting, so does our task, but we are driven to do what is necessary and right, and we are confident in our own abilities. Many successes in our long, proud history prove that we are on the right path. Thank you for walking that path with me to add another good year to our history.