On the recordSeptember 14, 2016
I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to speak on behalf of this amendment No. 18, which we are referring to as the Ask a Veteran amendment to the underlying bill. This essentially builds on some of the pioneering work taking place in the community I have the privilege to represent in El Paso, Texas. Before the wait-time scandal broke in Phoenix, we were hearing alarming discrepancies between what the VA was telling us that a veteran was waiting in our community and what we were hearing at our townhalls from veterans themselves. In order to try to resolve this issue, we conducted a scientific survey by an independent third-party with a margin of error under 4 percent to ask veterans from their own experience and in their own words what they had experienced in terms of care at the VA. We found that instead of meeting the 14-day standard then in place by the VA for access to care, veterans, on average, were waiting over 70 days to see a primary care physician and over 60 days to see a mental health care provider. Most alarmingly, 37 percent of the veterans who were surveyed who sought mental health care were not able to get an appointment in 14 days or 60 days or 1 year. They never got in at all.…
