DIGNIFIED TREATMENT FOR WOUNDED WARRIORS

Awhile back during a visit to Kearney, I had the honor of meeting with a young soldier who had been seriously wounded in Iraq and was having problems getting the proper medical care.  I called her caseworker personally to make sure she got the care she needed but it shouldn’t have taken a call from a United States Senator.

Stories like this coupled with disclosure of poor outpatient care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington resulted in a Senate bill that addresses many of the problems faced by brave veterans of the current foreign wars.

As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, I am an original co-sponsor of the Dignified Treatment of Wounded Warriors Act which will improve health care for all veterans and active duty personnel.  It assures that the medical and psychological care of our injured troops will be the best available and obtaining it as trouble free as possible.

The bill is a comprehensive policy to improve health care for service members by requiring the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to develop a comprehensive policy by January 1, 2008, on the care, management, and transition from the military to VA or civilian life of service members with combat-related injuries or illnesses. 

The bill would authorize medically retired service members to receive the active duty health care benefit for 3 years.  It would also require the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Secretary of the Veterans Administration, to develop a comprehensive plan on prevention, diagnosis, mitigation, and treatment of Traumatic Brain Injury and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.  It would authorize $50 million for improved diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of service members with these conditions.

It further establishes a program to develop and implement a joint electronic health record system between the defense department and department of Veterans Affairs.  It also requires the military to use VA standards to make disability determinations and prohibits deviation from those standards except to give the service member a higher disability rating.

The legislation also includes several amendments I proposed, including one to provide respite care for family members who care for injured service members and an amendment to improve travel reimbursements for retired personnel seeking continuing medical treatment.

Another injured soldier I met with in Lincoln inspired a provision in the Military Construction-Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill for FY 2008.  This man had suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury in Iraq after an explosion. The care he got when he arrived back in the U.S. was unacceptable until he finally was able to get into a civilian hospital in Lincoln, Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital, where he progressed well.

The legislation directs the Defense Department to report on existing conditions and criteria used for contracting with civilian rehabilitation providers so cases like this are handled smoothly.

Despite differences of opinion about the war, we all agree that America has an obligation to provide the very best care for the more than 27,000 U.S. military personnel who have been wounded or become ill in the line of duty.

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