There are about 18 million American veterans living today. More than 9 million veterans are served each year by the 1,074 outpatient sites and 170 Medical Centers of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Studies show at least 20% of our Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and/or clinical depression. However, it is estimated that at least half of those who are ill with these disorders do not seek treatment and are therefore not counted in these statistics. Another 19% of our war vets have traumatic brain injuries (TBI) while 7% are suffering from both PTSD and TBI. Alcohol abuse is reported in nearly 40% of all Iraq/Afghanistan veterans returning home. Much worse, active-duty personnel are now much more likely to die from suicide than combat.

Not surprisingly, our VA has been hard-pressed to keep up with the increased demand for its services by so many injured during our record-breaking 17 years at war. In 2014, the media reported that at least 40 vets have died while awaiting care at VA facilities. Investigators have found similar problems at several other VA medical centers. Some VA administrators have been accused of maintaining a duplicate set of books to hide these deaths and delays from official statistics. Many of these administrators had previously received bonuses for making it appear vets were getting prompt care.

Proposed Legislation: Reintroduction of S.1934 - Parity in Veterans Health Care Rights Act (116th Congress 2019-2020)
Prospective Sponsor: Sen. Patty Murray (WA)

• I oppose reforming current veteran’s healthcare policy and wish to donate resources to the campaign committee of Leader John Thune (SD).
• I support expanding eligibility for Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits (including dependency and indemnity compensation) in situations where a veteran has been disabled or died as a result of medical treatment or vocational rehabilitation by:
  
  1.) Requiring the VA to award such benefits if a disability or death of a veteran was caused by hospital care, a medical service, or an extended care service furnished by a non-VA provider as part of the Veterans Community Care Program.
  
  2.) Requiring the legal cause of the disability or death in these situations to have been either carelessness, negligence, lack of proper skill, error in judgment, or a similar instance of fault on the part of the provider, or an event that was not reasonably foreseeable.
  
  And wish to donate resources to the campaign committee of Sen. Patty Murray (WA) and/or to an advocate group currently working with this issue.