Bob Filner: “I want to just thank both the chair, Mr. Michaud of Maine, and the ranking member, Mr. Miller from Florida, for their…”

“I want to just thank both the chair, Mr. Michaud of Maine, and the ranking member, Mr. Miller from Florida, for their great leadership and bipartisan cooperation to get an important piece of legislation out. This bill, the Veterans' Health Care Improvement Act of 2007, combines a lot of different ideas from Members on both sides of the aisle, and we are pleased to have this bill on the floor today. Certainly, the mental health and well-being of our newest generation of veterans is a serious cause for concern and deserves our fullest attention. The VA reported in April of this year that of the OEF/OIF veterans who have separated and sought health care through the VA, mental disorders rank second of frequency of possible diagnoses amongst these veterans. Post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, is the number one health concern. At this point, over 39,000 returning veterans have received a provisional diagnosis of this, and we are looking into, in fact, maybe a systemic underestimation of those who are diagnosed and, therefore, to get treatment.”