NEWS FROM….

CONGRESSMAN LANE EVANS

RANKING DEMOCRATIC MEMBER

COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS

    U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FOR RELEASE: September 21, 1999

WASHINGTON, DC - The House today approved the far-reaching Veterans’ Millennium Health Care Act, H.R. 2116. Congressman Lane Evans (D-IL), Ranking Democrat of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, cosponsored the bipartisan bill along with Congressmen Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) and Cliff Stearns (R-FL) and Committee Chairman Bob Stump (R-AZ).

"This is an ambitious bill," Evans said, "and it is also realistic. As seen in the recent adoption of the VA-HUD appropriation bill, Congressional leaders are determined to provide inadequate funding for veterans’ health care. In this atmosphere, we must provide for both emergency and long-term care with initiatives that are both fiscally responsible and extremely creative."

The Millennium Act would assure Congress that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) meets the highest priority veterans’ vital needs for long-term care services. It requires the VA to plan effectively for veterans’ health care treatment in home or community settings as it shifts away from hospital based health care. In addition, the bill allows VA to reimburse regular VA patients for emergency care services delivered outside the VA.

Long-term care has been a concern for Evans as VA has tightened its belt. "Earlier this year, I presented findings from a report done at my request to assess recent changes in VA’s efforts to deliver long-term care to veterans. VA’s hospital chiefs of staff were surveyed and the study found substantial erosions in VA’s long-term care program. VA is treating more veterans, but it is discharging them after much shorter stays that may not satisfy their ongoing care needs."

Several study recommendations to improve VA long-term care were incorporated into the Millennium Act. The bill, which passed under suspension of the rules and will be sent to the Senate, requires VA to maintain its long-term care program and enhance the services it provides in the home and community. "VA is under enormous financial pressure and long-term care is expensive," Evans said. "It is time to give clear direction about which patients we expect VA to treat and what services we expect VA to offer."

Evans introduced two emergency care reimbursement bills in the last Congress, as well as the Veterans Emergency Health Care Act this year, to allow the VA to reimburse enrolled veterans for the cost of emergency care not provided by VA. Veterans who have contacted VA during a health care crisis have been told by VA staff to go to the closest health care facility for medical treatment. Once the bills came, however, the VA refused to reimburse veterans for their emergency care costs. "It is unconscionable that VA would abandon these veterans during a health care crisis," Evans said, "but I know it happens."

The Millennium Act will also require VA to work with chiropractors to develop a policy that will allow better access to their services within VA. "Veterans deserve the opportunity to choose chiropractic care," said Evans. The Illinois congressman introduced a bill early this year, supported by both the American Chiropractic Association and the International Chiropractors Association, to establish chiropractic care options for veterans, which was incorporated into the legislation.

"The Millennium Act is a forward-looking measure that reflects a solid bipartisan effort," Evans told Congress. "Under this legislation, VA will be able to enhance benefits for veterans even though the agency must contend with a tight-fisted congressional appropriations process. Now more than ever, we need this legislation to allow VA to meet veterans’ needs."