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093_HR0242
LRB093 11568 NHT 14811 r
1 HOUSE RESOLUTION
2 WHEREAS, Funding for Department of Veterans Affairs
3 health care under the federal budget is a discretionary
4 program, meaning that it is within the discretion of Congress
5 to determine how much money it will allocate each year for
6 veterans' health care; and
7 WHEREAS, Section 1710(a) of Title 38 of the United States
8 Code provides that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs "shall"
9 furnish hospital care and medical services, but only to the
10 extent Congress has provided money to cover the costs of
11 care; and
12 WHEREAS, Veterans have earned the right to VA medical
13 care through their extraordinary sacrifices and service to
14 this nation; and
15 WHEREAS, The cumulative effects of insufficient health
16 care funding have now resulted in the rationing of health
17 care; and
18 WHEREAS, Veterans Affairs has reached capacity at many of
19 its health care facilities and is unable to provide timely
20 access to quality health care; and
21 WHEREAS, The annual shortfall in the VA medical care
22 budget translates directly into higher national health care
23 expenditures; and
24 WHEREAS, When veterans cannot get needed health care
25 services from Veterans Affairs, they go elsewhere and the
26 cost of care is shifted to State welfare and Medicaid
27 programs or other safety net hospitals where society pays
28 more and the patient suffers; and
29 WHEREAS, The Veterans Health Administration is the most
30 efficient and cost-effective health care system, providing
-2- LRB093 11568 NHT 14811 r
1 care for 25% to 30% less than comparable Medicare services;
2 and
3 WHEREAS, Even though Veterans Affairs serves a population
4 of veterans that is older and sicker and that has a higher
5 prevalence of mental and behavioral health problems, it does
6 so at well below Medicare rates; and
7 WHEREAS, Many veterans need and depend on the VA health
8 care system and its specialized services in prosthetics, post
9 traumatic stress disorder, spinal cord injury, and
10 rehabilitation of the blind to treat their service-connected
11 disabilities and meet their unique health care needs; and
12 WHEREAS, It is disingenuous for our government to promise
13 health care to veterans, but then make it unattainable
14 because of inadequate funding; and
15 WHEREAS, Making veterans' health care mandatory would
16 ensure that the government met its obligation to provide
17 timely, quality health care to all veterans eligible for care
18 in the VA health care system; therefore, be it
19 RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
20 NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
21 we urge Congress to amend Title 38 of the United States Code
22 to provide a guaranteed level of funding for veterans' health
23 care with mandatory funding; and be it further
24 RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
25 delivered to the President of the United States, the
26 President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate and Chairman of the
27 Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, the Speaker of the U.S.
28 House of Representatives and Chairman of the House Veterans'
29 Affairs Committee, and each member of the Illinois
30 congressional delegation.
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