| Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand announced today that she will introduce legislation addressing veterans health care and looking at making the Veterans Administration more helpful for veterans seeking health care.
The legislation will be called the Providing Real Outreach for Veterans (PRO-VETS) Act and will "require the VA to proactively inform all New York veterans of the benefits they are eligible for and provide all necessary application materials."
During a press call today, Gillibrand said that she had encounters with veterans who have said that they don't know where to turn for health care benefits or they don't know what benefits they qualify for. This legislation would make the flow of information better and allow for veterans to be better informed about what benefits they are entitled to receive.
"The purpose of this legislation is to make sure that our veterans receive the benefits that they have already earned," Gillibrand said, referring to the sacrifices that veterans pay by serving our country.
Gillibrand added later: "It occurred to me that, if we can make the VA proactive as opposed to reactive, it would be a far more efficient and effective organization."
Gillibrand also unveiled a Pro-Vets report today that showed nearly 800,000 veterans who aren't receiving benefits now could be eligible for benefits.
Sen. Gillibrand made it clear that while those 800,000 veterans aren't receiving benefits, some of them may not be eligible for any benefits. That said, most of them could be, but they don't know it. That is why this legislation is important.
Here are some highlights from the report:
- Of the 779,742 veterans who aren't receiving benefits from the VA, 181,360 of them are in New York City. That is the most among any other region in the state. Long Island has 133,522 veterans not receiving VA benefits and Western New York has 87,217 veterans not receiving benefits.
- According to Gillibrand, there are over one million veterans in New York. But most of these veterans aren't receiving VA benefits that they could be entitled to. Based on the numbers in the Pro-Vets report, there are 1,033,112 veterans in New York. As stated above, 779,742 of them aren't receiving VA benefits. That means 75 percent of New York's veterans are receiving benefits from the VA that they could be eligible for.
The Pro-Vets legislation would require the VA to:
- Work with DOD to develop a seamless transfer of information between their offices. President Obama has begun the process of simplifying this process by requiring DOD to transmit electronic copies to the VA for soldiers leaving service. PRO-VETS would ensure every veteran's medical and other critical information is effectively transferred to the VA;
- Generate an assessment of the benefits a veteran is eligible for within seven days of receiving the information and update this list each year to make sure veterans are aware of any new benefits they may have become eligible for;
- Reach out to veterans and inform them of all the benefits they are eligible for and explain how to apply for and access these benefits for each individual veteran;
- Streamline the application process by having the VA base their analysis on information already collected by DOD, thus providing veterans faster, easier access to the benefits;
- Notify veterans within 30 days of any benefits for which they had applied but are not eligible for so they are not left waiting.
In the press release announcing the legislation, Gillibrand mentioned many of the same things she discussed during the conference call.
"New York is home to more than one million men and women who have answered our nation's call and served with distinction in our Armed Forces," Senator Gillibrand said. "As we honor America's fallen heroes, I am introducing new legislation to ensure that our living heroes get all the health care benefits they deserve. Too many New York veterans are not getting the quality care they have earned because the federal bureaucracy fails to reach out and let our vets know what services they are entitled to. This is wrong, and my legislation will require the VA to work proactively with the Department of Defense to improve health care access to all our veterans."
This is important legislation. It is eye-opening that 75 percent of New York's veterans aren't receiving benefits that they could, in most cases, qualify for. These veterans deserve to know whether or not they are eligible. The VA has a lot to improve upon and this is certainly one area that needs to improve. This legislation will do that and make sure that veterans know what benefits they are entitled to. |
