Political Quotes

“I thank the Chair. Because of his age--Mr. Wierman needs to travel. It is difficult for him to do it. What he needs is an annual physical. So Mr. Wierman has attempted to utilize the Choice Program, and he was told there was no flexibility to be seen in La Crosse by a hometown doctor or go to a hometown hospital due to his proximity, his location next to an outpatient clinic. Mr. Wierman sacrificed for our country, and he deserves to be able to receive his care in his own community given the burden and strain traveling imposes upon him, a veteran of 92 years of age. We need to make certain he receives the care he is entitled to, and we need to make sure the VA is doing what needs to be done to accomplish that. My final example today is Mr. Dabney, who suffers from post-traumatic stress. He was also told he was eligible for Choice, so he set up an appointment with the local care provider. Despite the OK from the VA practitioner about getting care outside of the VA, the handoff got lost in the shuffle, and somehow the VA determined that it was Mr. Dabney's fault that the paperwork didn't follow him, leaving him with the bill for the services provided by the outside-the-VA practitioner. I shared this case with Secretary McDonald at a hearing the Presiding Officer and I attended several months ago. The conclusion months later by the VA was that Mr.…”