Political Quotes

“I rise to engage Chairman Taylor in a colloquy. Mr. Chairman, in the Southeast we are facing a major problem with a veterans' health care system that is outdated and no longer able to meet the needs of those who have placed their lives on the line to preserve our freedom. We have seen a recent trend of veterans moving southward, yet the medical facilities that are in place in these States seeing the greatest influx are not sufficient to meet their needs. In July of 2000, the Veterans' Administration entered into a contract in my district with Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee that created a pilot project to provide quality medical service to our veterans closer to home. There are currently veterans in my district who are forced to wait months for appointments in Murfreesboro or Nashville when by utilizing services at Erlanger Medical Center, our regional safety net public hospital, they can reduce their wait time as well as their travel. Since the inception of the program in July 2000, I believe that the VA never truly committed to this contract. In the first year of this pilot program, there were only 24 referrals to Erlanger from the VA. When Erlanger renewed for a second year, we negotiated contract changes to increase the volume of veterans eligible to be referred to Erlanger. However, the second year of the program saw only a meager increase in referrals to 34.”