Democrats Blocked the Va Healthcare Again
WASHINGTON – Democrats and veterans advocates pushed back Wednesday confronting concerns from Republicans virtually the high cost of a neb that aims to fast-track Department of Veterans Diplomacy health care and benefits to millions of veterans exposed to toxic burn down pits.
The House Committee on Veterans' Diplomacy held a roundtable Wed to discuss the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act, a programme that would reform the VA'south process of handling claims of toxic exposure and significantly increment payouts to veterans who served near burn pits in Iraq and Transitional islamic state of afghanistan.
Democrats and a dozen veterans organizations applauded the effort Wednesday, describing information technology as a "comprehensive solution" for veterans suffering the effects of burn pits. Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., the chairman of the Business firm committee, said the bill would presently be taken to the House floor for a vote.
Republicans, however, warned the legislation had no chance of passing through Congress in its current form. The main point of contention is its price.
The bill would increase spending by more than than $281 billion during the adjacent decade because of the expanded eligibility for disability compensation, according to estimates from the Congressional Upkeep Office. The function estimated the bill would cost an boosted $146 billion in the following 10 years for the expansion of health care.
"Nosotros don't have hundreds of billions of dollars of offsets sitting around," said Rep. Mike Bost of Illinois, the ranking Republican on the committee. "I remain committed to finding a style to support toxic-exposed veterans in a way that is fiscally responsible for future generations. Veterans are taxpayers, too. We should be mindful how we spend their money on their behalf."
Nether the bill, about 1.5 million additional veterans would become eligible for VA health care, and ii million veterans would qualify for disability compensation.
Throughout the 1990s and the post-9/11 wars, the military used open up-air pits to burn garbage, jet fuel, pigment, medical waste, plastics and other materials. Veterans diagnosed with cancer, respiratory issues and lung disease at young ages have blamed exposure to the toxic fumes. They accept sought VA benefits and health care, only the department contended for years that there wasn't sufficient evidence to support their claims.
The PACT Act would add 23 of those cancers and respiratory illnesses to the listing of conditions that would qualify veterans for VA benefits and health intendance.
The bill besides addresses other types of toxic exposure. The neb calls for presumptive benefits for Vietnam War veterans who have adult hypertension because of exposure to chemical herbicides, too equally veterans who served in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia and were potentially exposed to herbicides. It also includes veterans who participated in toxic cleanup activities in Enewetak Atoll or Palomares, Espana.
The process now for receiving VA wellness care and benefits is "cumbersome" and places the burden on veterans, Takano said.
"The [Congressional Upkeep Function] estimate is in. Now nosotros know the truthful cost of our promise," he said. "Just we cannot renege on our responsibleness to toxic-exposed veterans because of any preconceived sticker stupor."
Bost argued the committee was "beating a expressionless equus caballus" by discussing a bill that had no chance of approval. He asked the bill include more rigid criteria to designate which veterans would exist eligible for benefits and wellness care. He as well suggested the bill be split, and that Congress outset focus on getting veterans health care earlier expanding the eligibility for inability benefits.
Bost faced pushback on those ideas. Comedian Jon Stewart, who was office of the roundtable Wednesday, argued against adding specific criteria to eligibility or splitting the bill to first address health care. Stewart became a vehement abet for ix/11 responders who developed illnesses from toxic fumes at the destroyed World Trade Center. He recently turned his attending to veterans suffering from diseases caused by burn pits and other toxic environments.
"If you're sick with pancreatic cancer and don't have the benefits, what are you living on?" Stewart asked. "The idea of splitting everything upwards and doing it piecemeal and creating more bureaucratic processes on this is unacceptable."
While Congress debates the bill, the VA has moved forward with granting a pathway to benefits and health intendance for some veterans exposed to burn down pits.
VA Secretary Denis McDonough implemented a new approach to consider conditions for inclusion on the department'due south presumptive list. While previous efforts relied heavily on studies from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the new arroyo looks more broadly at research and data from other sources, as well as claims being filed past veterans, McDonough has said.
Using this approach, the VA decided in Baronial to add 3 conditions to the presumptive listing: asthma, rhinitis and sinusitis. The department said in that location was enough prove to link the weather condition to airborne toxins from burn pits during overseas deployments.
The department, at the direction of President Joe Biden, is now reviewing inquiry into several rare cancers, including squamous jail cell carcinoma of the larynx and salivary gland tumors, every bit well as lung cancers and constrictive bronchiolitis.
McDonough said Tuesday that the VA would soon have an update about the review into those cancers.
"The president was very clear, and I've told you guys almost the urgency he feels on this," McDonough said. "I feel that urgency quite greatly."
Source: https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2022-01-19/veterans-affairs-burn-pits-toxic-exposure-benefits-congress-4350449.html
Post a Comment for "Democrats Blocked the Va Healthcare Again"