Dick Durbin: “of the 21 million veterans in our country, about 750,000 live in Illinois. I hear from many of them as I travel around…”

“of the 21 million veterans in our country, about 750,000 live in Illinois. I hear from many of them as I travel around the State meeting with different groups. Like veterans throughout the United States, Illinois veterans are concerned about their health care. They are frustrated by lengthy wait times to get an appointment and, like all of us, they are furious about the wait list scandal uncovered this year. One factor that has contributed to the long wait times is a shortage of medical personnel at VA hospitals and clinics. In many cases there are not enough doctors and nurses to meet demand. Many of the doctors and nurses we do have are overwhelmed. One way we can address this is to give VA doctors and nurses a raise. I am happy that VA Secretary Bob McDonald announced this morning the agency is going to lift a salary freeze on medical personnel and plans to increase compensation for the health care providers who work with our veterans. This is a positive step in improving the ailing Veterans Health Administration. Salaries for VA doctors and nurses often are lower on average than those of their private sector counterparts, and those salaries have been frozen for 3 years. Primary care doctors and internists at VA facilities earned about 33 percent less than private sector primary care physicians in 2012, according to the Medical Group Management Association. A similar disparity can be found in nurses' pay.…”