Ryan Proposes Legislation to Expand Veterans' Care
WASHINGTON -- In conjunction with this year’s commemoration of Veterans Day, U.S. Reps. Tim Ryan and Rich Nugent will introduce the Veterans and Armed Forces’ Health Promotion Act of 2013. The legislation, which the representatives will introduce this week, aims to improve the quality of health care provided to wounded warriors by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense.
If approved, the legislation would expand the scope of holistic care education and research for signature wounds such as post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. It also would establish complementary and alternative medicine pilot programs for mental health and pain management treatment for veterans at 10 sites across the United States.
Additionally, it would create a grant pilot program to upgrade veteran service organization facilities, expanding the reach of wellness services directly into economically strained communities. The bill also would reduce duplicative research by incorporating years of work the Defense Department has already dedicated toward innovation of care. Funding would depend upon Defense and the Veterans Administration’s ability to collaborate on health-care challenges common to military service.
Ryan, D-13 Ohio, said one of his greatest responsibilities as a member of Congress is to ensure that the nation’s veterans and active duty personnel receive the care and benefits they deserve, and the proposed legislation would go “a long way toward improving the quality of care wounded receive, and move both agencies toward innovative health-care solutions for the complex challenges” facing them. “I believe these complementary and alternative approaches can help preemptively address needs and ultimately create less expensive treatments for long-term veteran health care,” he said.
"Our military is an all-volunteer force and we owe it to them to ensure they get the very best medical care and support when they come home,” Nugent, R-11 Fla., said. “One critical part of that is doing everything possible to address health challenges that are specific to veterans. There are steps that the VA and DOD can take to innovate and find better ways of delivering the care that Congressman Ryan and I are dedicated to making sure happens. This legislation will further that effort and I am very proud to be able to help move it forward."
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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