Dear Representative,
On behalf of Americans for Prosperity and the thousands of veterans, military families, and grassroots activists we represent nationwide, I urge you to support H.R.9237/S.4744, The Take Care of America’s Veterans Act. This legislation would advance meaningful reforms that better honor veterans’ service by improving the effectiveness, accountability, and sustainability of the benefits and services they have earned.
Through their service and sacrifice, America’s veterans have earned access to timely, high quality health care. Yet too many veterans still face barriers to understanding, accessing, and utilizing the benefits they have earned under federal law. To better fulfill our nation’s commitment to those who served, the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act incorporates important provisions such as the text of the Veterans’ ACCESS Act which strengthens and protects veterans’ ability to choose the health care options that best meet their needs.
The VA MISSION Act of 2018 created the Veterans Community Care Program, which allowed millions of veterans to use their health benefits at community providers when VA appointments were too far away or not available soon enough. Unfortunately, the Biden-era VA undermined implementation, violating the letter and spirit of the law by restricting access to community care options through flawed internal guidance. Extensive Freedom of Information Act records revealed that the VA manipulated wait times to reduce community care eligibility and even trained schedulers to attempt to dissuade veterans from using community care options when they requested them. A VA Inspector General Report released on June 17 also confirms that the VA routinely does not tell veterans when they are eligible for community care.
The Take Care of America’s Veterans Act includes critical language protecting community care from future abuses and making it easier to use. The bill codifies the existing community care access standards that have been in place since 2019, providing veterans with greater certainty about their health care options. The bill invests in accountability and innovation across the entire veterans’ health care system. It strengthens oversight, requires accurate wait-time calculations, modernizes VA services, creates innovation initiatives, and gives veterans more visibility into their own care.
Some organizations have claimed that by being fiscally responsible, the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act’s pits veterans against each other—this could not be further from the truth. This legislation does not alter any existing veterans’ disability ratings for sleep apnea and tinnitus or eliminate ratings for these conditions at large.
What the bill does do is implement rules proposed under both Biden and Trump-era VA leadership to update disability rating criteria for sleep apnea and tinnitus, better reflecting modern medical standards and treatment outcomes, which were scheduled to be finalized by September 30 as is. Ratings that accurately reflect medical realities and veterans’ ability to rehabilitate are crucial to sustainably keeping our nation’s promise to our most severely disabled veterans. By saving $38 billion over the next decade through these changes, the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act secures vital improvements to veterans’ health care and several other categories of benefits without adding to our unsustainable national debt.
Veterans deserve a VA that works for them and the freedom to choose where they receive their health care. Congress must act to remove barriers to ensure veterans are able to access the full benefits they earned through their service. It is for these reasons that I urge you to support H.R.9237/S.4744, Take Care of America’s Veterans Act.
This vote will be recorded in our legislative scorecard. To see what other votes have been included, please visit AFP’s scorecard online at: AFPscorecard.org.
