Senator Johnny Isakson is the Chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. His office issued the following yesterday.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, June 6, 2018
Contact: Amanda Maddox, 202-224-7777
Camlin Moore, 202-224-9126
Isakson’s Landmark VA Legislation Signed into Law
‘Final piece in great mosaic’ of reforms led by Isakson to improve veterans’ health care, services, benefits
WASHINGTON –
U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., chairman of the Senate Committee on
Veterans’ Affairs, today applauded the president’s signing into law
landmark legislation he authored to strengthen healthcare services at
the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) while streamlining the
department’s community care programs to ensure veterans receive
efficient, timely and quality care, whether inside the VA system or from
providers in their communities.
The John S. McCain
III, Daniel K. Akaka and Samuel R. Johnson VA Maintaining Internal
Systems and Strengthening Integrated Outside Networks (MISSION) Act, called the VA MISSION Act for
short, is a bipartisan bill that Isakson worked on for more than 18
months and is the 16th veterans bill signed into law since January 2017.
“We owe our veterans the best possible care and support that they have earned,” said Isakson, who participated in today’s bill signing with the president. “This
is a truly meaningful victory for our nation’s veterans, who will
benefit from more choice and fewer barriers to care. The signing of this
legislation marks the completion of the final piece in a great mosaic
of veterans reforms that we set out to accomplish over the last two
years. I thank President Trump for his unwavering support for our
veterans, and I appreciate my colleagues in Congress who upheld our
commitment to our veterans by voting for some of the most significant
reforms to-date to improve the VA’s current healthcare delivery system.”
The VA MISSION Act builds on legislation previously introduced by Isakson to
consolidate and improve VA community care programs, which allow
veterans to receive healthcare services provided by private hospitals
and doctors. The legislation also includes provisions to improve VA’s
ability to hire high-quality healthcare professionals, expand VA
caregiver benefits to veterans of all eras and establish a process to
evaluate and reform VA’s existing facilities to best serve veterans.
The bill also
authorizes and appropriates funding for the VA to continue the Veterans
Choice Program until the new, streamlined ‘Veterans Community Care
Program’ established in this legislation is implemented.
In addition, the
legislation will help improve existing VA health care and services by
removing barriers for VA healthcare professionals to practice
telemedicine, strengthening processes for opioid prescribing by VA and
community care providers, and eliminating impediments to hiring and
retention of VA healthcare professionals.
The VA MISSION Act was passed by the full U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 347-70 on May 16, and the full Senate by a vote of 92-5 on May 23.
The VA MISSION Act received
broad support from leading veterans groups that represent millions of
veterans in the United States. A group of 38 veteran and military
advocacy organizations wrote to the House and Senate in support of the VA MISSION Act. Read a copy of the letter here.
Seven former heads of the VA and former Acting VA Secretary Wilkie also wrote to Congressional leadership in support of the bill.
The full title of the
legislation was amended on Tuesday, May 15, by House Committee on
Veterans’ Affairs chairman U.S. Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tenn., to honor the
lasting impact that U.S. Senator John McCain, R-Ariz., the late U.S.
Senator Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, and U.S. Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Texas, have
had on the lives of our nation’s veterans.
A one-page summary of the VA MISSION Act is available here, and a section-by-section summary is available here.
###
The Senate
Committee on Veterans’ Affairs is chaired by U.S. Senator Johnny
Isakson, R-Ga., in the 115th Congress. Isakson is a veteran himself –
having served in the Georgia Air National Guard from 1966-1972 – and has
been a member of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs since he
joined the Senate in 2005. Isakson’s home state of Georgia is home to
more than a dozen military installations representing each branch of the
armed services as well as more than 750,000 veterans.
