Bill would allow vets option of using non-VA providers
Published 7:25 am Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Federal legislation was introduced Tuesday that would give Southwest Louisiana veterans the option to receive health care from local non-Veterans Affairs providers while they wait for a permanent VA facility.
U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany, R-Lafayette, introduced House Resolution 5097, the Local Care for Veterans Act. Under the measure, veterans may seek care from private providers if their options are limited within the VA system.
The bill targets veterans who live in an area that has been deemed by the VA secretary as having inadequate access to health care. The VA has identified Lake Charles as lacking services like proper primary care, mental health and cardiology.
Boustany’s bill allows veterans to receive local non-VA care if they reside within 50 miles of a clinic proposed by the VA.
“Currently, south Louisiana veterans are faced with the choice of driving hours to Alexandria or Houston to seek care, or worse — to forgo needed medical attention altogether. That’s not right,” Boustany said.
“The Local Care for Veterans Act will provide much-needed relief to veterans by allowing them to seek care outside the system while the clinic they’ve been promised is under construction.”
Meanwhile, legislation that would authorize the construction of the VA clinics in Lake Charles and Lafayette is in a House and Senate conference committee.
David LaCerte, secretary of the state Department of Veterans Affairs, has said he is confident the compromise bill will pass before the August recess and that funding for the two clinics will be included in the bill. If the clinics are authorized, construction will take about two years.
“I’m working hard to ensure the bill in conference authorizing a VA clinic in Lake Charles is passed as soon as possible,” Boustany said. “Our veterans have been waiting on this promised clinic for far too long, and I’m not content to sit by and wait. I spoke on the House floor (Tuesday) to call on these conferees to act before August and give our veterans the standard of care they deserve.”
