Jeff Miller: “I want to say that the first district of Florida probably includes some of the most striking examples of access to care…”

“I want to say that the first district of Florida probably includes some of the most striking examples of access to care challenges that this country ever had. I have almost 100,000 veterans that live in the Panhandle. All of them are eligible to receive health care through the VA. Pensacola ranks in the top 10 in veteran populations in the Nation, and Fort Walton Beach tops that list. Despite these numbers, our community-based outpatient clinic in Pensacola treats twice the number of Panhandle veterans than it was designed to do. Veterans in Fort Walton and farther east must travel to the other side of Eglin Air Force Base, which spans over 700 square miles in the middle of my district, in order to even reach the Pensacola clinic. For VA in-patient care, all of my patients must go to Biloxi, Mississippi, a trip upwards of 200 miles for some of my residents.”