NAN A. S. HAYWORTH: “I am pleased to rise with the dean of our Arizona delegation and the chairman of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, the…”

“I am pleased to rise with the dean of our Arizona delegation and the chairman of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Stump), in strong support of this legislation. As has been chronicled by people from both sides of the aisle with disparate views of the role of government in health care, we all agree today, Mr. Speaker, that this is an idea whose time has come, not only for the challenges confronting home health care, challenges that in and of themselves tend to make HCFA truly a four-letter word, if not an acronym, in terms of the administration and practical applicability of ideas, but also for those Americans who have worn the uniform of our Armed Services and served with distinction both in wartime or in peacetime, especially in a place like the Sixth Congressional District of Arizona, a district in square mileage almost the size of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This is historic legislation because it would permit the VA to establish service networks to provide Medicare-reimbursed care to service-connected or financially needy Medicare-eligible veterans for whom VA medical centers are geographically remote or inaccessible.”