PVA President Fox Calls for Congress to Support a Stronger VA Health Care System to Serve All Veterans

3/7/2003

From: David J. Uchic of the Paralyzed Veterans of America, 202-416-7667 web: http://www.pva.org

WASHINGTON, March 7 -- Testifying before a joint hearing of the Senate and House Veterans' Affairs Committees, PVA President Joseph L. Fox, Sr., said the health care provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) excels in many areas, but that standards of excellence are threatened by funding uncertainties that continue year after year.

"The VA is a good-health care system; it provides a broad range of quality medical services. It is a system the members of PVA and millions of other veterans rely upon. It is a system that has excelled in research, in the provision of specialized services, in medical education and in the development of prosthetics." Fox stated, "It is a system worthy of the men and women who have earned the right to call it their own through service in defense of this great nation. It is also a system that constantly teeters on the brink of sliding backwards due to annual funding uncertainties. It is a system that is worth our collective best efforts to protect and to adequately provide for."

On the promise the United States has made to veterans who served in past conflicts, as well as upcoming conflicts, Fox said, "As our Nation continues to prepare for war, let the Congress make certain that VA's health-care system will be strong and well prepared for any conflict we might face. Those of us who have known war also know that the true cost of war only begins when the last shot is fired. The obligation for American men and women to serve in our Armed Forces must be as strong as this Nation's obligation to serve them in return."

Fox testified that the Administration's budget will not meet the needs of veterans who depend on the VA for health-care services. PVA's president praised the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs for its recommended health-care increase of $3.6 billion. "This increase, which rejects the proposed enrollment fee and cuts in nursing home beds while adding funds for homelessness and mental health, is a direct response to the problems faced by veterans."

Every year, PVA is invited to present testimony detailing legislative priorities along with organizational goals and objectives before the Senate and House Committees on Veterans' Affairs.

To read President Fox's full testimony, visit the newsroom at http://www.pva.org.

Founded in 1946, Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA), is the only congressionally chartered veterans service organization dedicated solely for the benefit and representation of individuals with spinal cord injury or disease. PVA is a dynamic, broad-based organization with more than 20,000 members in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. To learn more about PVA, visit its web site at http://www.pva.org.