News & Opinion

This week, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Mike Bost (R-Ill.), published the below opinion piece in the Washington Times to discuss the major healthcare expansions that are included in H.R. 9237, the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act. This landmark veterans’ package protects veterans’ healthcare choice eligibility through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) community care program, expands access to resources for veterans struggling with substance abuse, boosts medical advancements and care access for veterans living with traumatic brain injuries, opens more doors for rural and urban healthcare access, and more.

To learn more about the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act, click here. To watch Chairman Bost’s recent remarks at a press conference on the bill with leading veteran service organizations (VSOs) and advocates urging Congress to move this bill, click here.

Chairman Bost: More healthcare, less red tape for veterans nationwide

By Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill.

July 29, 2026

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is the largest integrated healthcare system in the United States. Together with community doctors, millions of veterans receive the healthcare benefits they are eligible for, whether it’s specialized treatment for a chronic back injury from long days working on aircraft carriers or care from their local doctor for a routine physical that’s close to home and on time — not three hours away at the nearest VA hospital. Our men and women who have served deserve a big-tent VA healthcare system that meets them where they are.

But during the Biden administration’s management of VA, hand-picked bureaucrats prioritized protecting VA’s healthcare bureaucracy over the veteran patient’s choice in care. That goes against the intent of President Barack Obama’s CHOICE Act and President Donald Trump’s MISSION Act. Both laws promised veterans that the wait-times scandals like the one in Phoenix over ten years ago – where veterans were placed on a fake wait list for healthcare appointments – would never happen again and that, when VA could not provide timely care, a private doctor would step in. Biden administration officials directed VA employees to “not make VA community care an easy button.” For me, that’s unacceptable. That’s not what veterans deserve. And it reaffirmed that we must cement more in law to ensure that veterans across the country – and its territories – can get the quality, timely healthcare they need.    

The Take Care of America’s Veterans Act takes another step to build on that pledge. This sweeping veterans’ package includes major provisions to continue to expand – and protect – healthcare access. The bill includes the Veterans’ ACCESS Act, which safeguards veterans’ healthcare choice eligibility so that no one — no matter who is in charge of VA — can restrict community care appointments. Those community care appointments save lives, point blank. And because it can be the difference between life and death for a veteran to get the care they need close to home, House Republicans’ bill will increase access for veterans who are struggling with substance abuse and addiction and expand eligibility so they can use their VA healthcare benefits at treatment facilities closer to home and near their families.

The bill also includes major advancements for veterans living with traumatic brain injuries, mTBIs, and the effects of exposures to blasts during time in service, especially the effects these injuries can have on a veteran’s mental health. By advancing research, treatment and understanding of these injuries, we will be able to propel VA forward so that it can continue to develop modern care and get veterans the right neurorehabilitation treatment and support so that they can live comfortably with these injuries.  

A lot of times in Washington, we can get caught up in the details, because it’s easier to stick to the status quo. But for a veteran who has tried three times to go to rehab but is either paying out of pocket, missing their kids or unable to afford to take the time off work to go to the outpatient facility that’s included in their coverage but is hours away, the status quo isn’t cutting it.

As Rep. Dr. Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ rightly named No Wrong Doors Act, which is included in the package, suggests, House Republicans believe that we should be opening more doors than ever for rural and urban healthcare access. That’s exactly what the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act does. Whether it’s keeping that door open for a primary care appointment or continuing to provide grants to community-based mental health organizations or opening up a new door for a veteran struggling with substance abuse, my bill would advance those promises to make a difference in veterans’ day-to-day lives, and I’m proud to lead this effort.

Rep. Mike Bost is a Marine veteran and represents Illinois' 12th congressional district and serves as chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs in Congress.