Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I am pleased to introduce legislation that would extend the Department of Veterans Affairs' authority to use contract physicians to perform medical disability examinations. The VA continues to struggle to compensate disabled veterans quickly and accurately. While the Administration and Congress work to produce long-term, systemic solutions to this challenge, the reality is that we also need short-term solutions to most effectively leverage available resources. One such tool, which has helped VA better serve veterans, is the use of contract physicians for medical disability examinations. In order to determine the type and severity of disabilities of veterans filing for VA compensation or pension benefits, VA often requires thorough medical disability examinations. Because these examinations form the basis of disability ratings, their accurate and timely completion is essential. In recent years, the demand for medical disability examinations has increased beyond the number of requests that VA's in-house system was designed to accommodate. This rise in demand is due to an increase in the complexity of disability claims, a rise in the number of disabilities claimed by veterans, and changes in eligibility requirements for disability benefits.…”