Doug Bereuter: “this Member rises today to join the distinguished gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Osborne) in his Special Order to…”

“this Member rises today to join the distinguished gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Osborne) in his Special Order to highlight the health care challenges that rural veterans face when attempting to access care through the Department of Veterans Affairs. For many years, this Member has been far from satisfied with various actions of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, such as, one, the use of the health care allocation formula instituted by the Clinton administration and continuing to this day, which in effect penalizes veterans in sparsely settled States like Nebraska; number two, the reorganization of the Nebraska-Iowa region into a larger region headquartered in the Twin Cities of Minnesota; three, the end of inpatient hospitalization in the Lincoln and Grand Island, VA hospitals; and, four, the current procedural difficulties for veterans to have prescriptions filled. In total, these faulty decisions have amounted to discrimination against veterans in rural areas.”