Did Congress Care About These Veterans?

Every other year there is a crisis for our Veterans and it just doesn't end up getting fixed. How many times do we have to read about yet another shortfall for the VA? How many more times are we willing to allow members of Congress to make campaign promises they always forget about as soon as they get our votes? They House Veterans Affairs Committee has had since 1946 to do the right thing for veterans. When do they have to explain why they haven't done it?

VA extends funds for vets on verge of losing care
Norfolk Daily News
Steve Liewer
World-Herald service
August 2, 2015

The VA Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System will continue to fund all skilled and nonskilled care services for veterans who already are receiving them through Sept. 30, VA officials announced Friday. But they also said it remains a question mark whether such care will continue when a new budget year begins Oct. 1.

In June, the local VA had begun terminating the reimbursement for some veterans who receive home care and adult daycare through outside organizations like Comfort Keepers and the Franciscan Centre in Omaha. Funding for the program had run out because of a shortfall in the Department of Veterans Affairs’ health care budget.

After angry public hearings with VA Secretary Robert McDonald, Congress passed legislation late this week giving authority to move money from another fund to plug the shortfall. Without that authority, McDonald had said, some VA medical facilities might have to close temporarily. The president signed the bill on Friday.

In Nebraska and western Iowa, reimbursement for home care and adult daycare services for up to 1,900 veterans had been scheduled to end Saturday. Friday’s 11th-hour announcement was a welcome reprieve. “They are faxing us renewals like crazy,” said Jennifer Dil, a business development consultant with Comfort Keepers in Omaha. “This is fabulous news.”
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