Article on recently passed bill to improve health care for injured service
members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.  I have no argument with
improving the care that returning soldiers receive, but I do wish there was
a way to ensure that all people with disabilities would receive the care
they need.  We now return you to your previous discussion ;-{)}

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Kendall David Corbett <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Mar 30, 2007 11:00 AM
Subject: FW: House Passes Bill to Improve Veterans' Care
To: [log in to unmask]

-----Original Message-----
From: Justice For All Moderator [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2007 6:57 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: House Passes Bill to Improve Veterans' Care

House Passes Bill to Improve Veterans' Care

March 29, 2007

WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP)  Reacting to shabby treatment of wounded
service members at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the House on
Wednesday created a coterie of case managers, advocates and
counselors for injured troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Wounded Warrior Assistance Act, approved 426 to 0, also
establishes a hot line for medical patients to report problems in
their treatment and demands an end to the red tape that has
frustrated disabled service members as they move from Pentagon
care to care by the Veterans Affairs Department.

The bill would affect some of the more than 25,000 American
service members wounded in hostile action since military
operations began in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"We cannot allow those who have fought our foreign enemies in the
defense of freedom to come home and fight the federal bureaucracy
to get the health care they need," said Representative Candice S.
Miller, Republican of Michigan and a member of the Armed Services
Committee.

The White House said in a statement that while those goals were
commendable, the legislation was premature and suggested that
Congress wait for a report from a presidential commission and a
task force on the war-wounded created after the exposure of poor
conditions and treatment at Walter Reed. Those findings are
expected by the end of July.

The bill requires Senate action before it goes to the president.

Representative Duncan Hunter, Republican of California, whose
support for a strong military is a cornerstone of his presidential
aspirations, said he was particularly pleased with a provision
that would improve personal care by limiting medical care case
managers to 17 cases at a time. Mr. Hunter, the ranking Republican
on the Armed Services Committee, said he also liked the
legislation's move toward more information sharing between the
Defense Department and the V.A. and steps to ease the transition
to veteran status.

Under the bill, the defense secretary would be required to provide
disabled service members being separated or retired from active
duty with a written plan for transition to V.A. programs.

Several amendments directed that more attention be paid to the
mental health of returning combatants.

Source: New York Times
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-- 


Kendall

An unreasonable man (but my wife says that's redundant!)

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress
depends on the unreasonable man.

-George Bernard Shaw 1856-1950

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