Last week Senator Jerry Moran led a Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs hearing on persistent barriers to care for veterans seeking help from the Department of Veterans Affairs . While these issues impact veterans in need of all kinds of health care services from VA, they are particularly burdensome for those in need of support for mental health conditions and addiction. During the hearing, Moran heard from veterans, family members, and advocates who shared first-hand accounts of months-long delays in care and an inability to seek care in the community. One witness, Paige Marg, testified about how her husband Charlie, an Air Force veteran, was repeatedly denied residential or inpatient mental health care by VA after Charlie attempted suicide in the parking lot of a VA clinic.
Moran says it is unacceptable that veterans and families should have to fight for the health care that they earned through their military service.
Following the hearing, he called on the acting VA secretary, urging the department to take these issues seriously and act quickly to address the gaps in care the witnesses identified. Moran is and always has been committed to improving the timeliness and accessibility of VA care and making certain that veterans are at the center of the health care decision-making process.
