3-8-2013

FRA National President Testifies on Capitol Hill

FRA National President (NP) Mark Kilgore testified before a joint hearing of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees this week, asking Congress to work to reduce the growing backlog of disability claims at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), expand presumption for Blue Water Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange herbicide while serving off the cost of Vietnam, and allow the VA to be reimbursed by Medicare for services provided to Medicare-eligible veterans. Kilgore also told the committees of his personal experiences as a VA Priority Group I and TRICARE Prime patient and the difficulties created by the lack of a fully-interoperable electronic health record, characterizing the recent joint announcement that DoD and VA are abandoning their plans to create a single electronic medical record for active duty personnel and veterans as “not good.”

NP Kilgore expressed support for making the “doc fix” permanent, and cited other issues addressed in the Association’s full statement, including full concurrent receipt for all disabled military retirees, expanded suicide prevention programs, veteran’s status for Reserve Component with 20 or more years of service, and reform of the Uniform Services Former Spouse Protection Act (USFSPA).

Click here to read FRA’s full statement.