Tester chairs hearing on Indian veteran issues
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military men and women are getting lousy, substandard care, with many
of their issues swept under the carpet and ignored i.e. Agent Orange
Syndrome, Gulf War Syndrome and more.
Tester chairs hearing on Indian veteran issues
(Created: Friday, November 6, 2009 12:13 PM MST)
Tim Leeds Havre Daily News tle...@havredailynews.com
Montana’s U.S. Sen. Jon Tester chaired a hearing of the Senate
Veterans’ Affairs Committee where two Montanan’s testified about
problems facing Native American military veterans in receiving health
services, Tester announced in a press release. Part of the hearing
focused on an issue also raised during Montana’s Sen. Max Baucus’
listening sessions on health reform over the last two years — Indian
veterans being sent back and forth from Indian Health Services and
Veterans’ Affairs trying to find health care. “Neither the VA or IHS
have put the unique needs of Indian veterans front and center,” said
Tester, also a member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. “We hear
the horror stories of a veteran walking in to an IHS facility only to
be told to go to the VA hospital hundreds of miles away, and of the
veteran walking into a VA facility only to be sent to IHS.” Kevin
Howlett, director of Tribal Health for Montana’s Confederated Salish
and Kootenai Tribes, and Buck Richardson, Minority Program coordinator
at Fort Harrison near Helena, testified and were questioned by Tester
and the other members of the committee Thursday. Tester requested the
hearing a month ago. It focused on the VA and IHS making health care
accessible to Indian veterans, especially in rural areas, as well as
cultural barriers the VA must address in providing care for Indians.
The number of Indians enrolled in the VA Montana is 4,600, the release
said, although the actual number of Native American veterans is
believed to be much higher. Tester called the “ping-ponging” of
veterans unacceptable. “Promises were made to the men and women who
put their lives on the line for our nation,” he added.“We need to make
sure that those promises are kept.” A bill written by Tester, the
Rural Veterans Health Care Improvement Act, also includes provisions
dealing with the needs of Indian veterans. That bill, which has passed
out of committee and is awaiting a vote by the full Senate, also would
improve mental health services, provide grants for innovative programs
that improve health care for rural veterans and lock in the VA’s
current 41.5-cents per mile travel reimbursement for disabled
veterans, an issue championed by Tester since his election.
http://www.havredailynews.com/articles/2009/11/06/local_headlines/state.txt