Bob Filner: “Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3118, The Veterans' Health Care Eligibility Reform Act of 1966, is an important step toward improving…”

“Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3118, The Veterans' Health Care Eligibility Reform Act of 1966, is an important step toward improving health care for our Nation's veterans. The veterans in my congressional district, the leaders of San Diego County's veterans community, and the representatives of national veterans organizations all agree that we need veterans' health care eligibility reform. This bill will simplify the rules governing VA medical care. It will allow veterans to get outpatient service when that is more appropriate than inpatient care. This bill will allow the VA to treat veterans for less money, with the savings going for expanded services. Veterans' health care eligibility reform is one of the first issues confronting me when I came to Congress in 1993, and I am proud to be a member of the Veterans Affairs Committee which has worked so hard on this bill. I appreciate the work of Chairman Bob Stump, ranking member Sonny Montgomery, chairman of the Subcommittee on Hospitals and Health Care Tim Hutchinson, and Subcommittee ranking member Chet Edwards for their tireless efforts in developing H.R. 3118.”