Bill Text: TX HCR91 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Urging Congress to enact legislation to ensure that all veterans receive in a timely manner the level of medical care that they have earned.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-04-25 - Committee report sent to Calendars [HCR91 Detail]
Download: Texas-2019-HCR91-Introduced.html
| 86R14375 BPG-D | ||
| By: Miller | H.C.R. No. 91 | |
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| WHEREAS, The Department of Veterans Affairs is charged with | ||
| ensuring the health and well-being of the nation's veterans, but in | ||
| recent years, its failure to adequately perform its mission has | ||
| been the source of scandal; and | ||
| WHEREAS, In 2018, the United States Congress responded to | ||
| unconscionable delays and denials of care at VA facilities by | ||
| passing the VA Maintaining Internal Systems and Strengthening | ||
| Integrated Outside Networks Act of 2018, or VA MISSION Act, which | ||
| requires continued access to private medical care providers for | ||
| veterans if the VA does not offer the care or services the veteran | ||
| requires, if the VA does not operate a full-service medical | ||
| facility in the state in which the veteran resides, if the veteran | ||
| was eligible for care in the community under the 40-mile rule in the | ||
| Veterans Choice Program, or when the veteran meets certain other | ||
| requirements; and | ||
| WHEREAS, By expanding the reforms established in the Veterans | ||
| Choice Act, The VA MISSION Act improves veteran access to walk-in | ||
| care as long as that veteran has used VA health care services within | ||
| a 24-month time period prior to requesting walk-in services; by | ||
| increasing its contracts with community-based health care | ||
| providers, the VA has drastically improved the availability of | ||
| walk-in services; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Important changes to the VA Comprehensive | ||
| Assistance For Family Caregivers program include expanded | ||
| eligibility for veterans with service-connected medical issues; | ||
| previously, access was more limited and emphasized post-9/11 | ||
| military service; and | ||
| WHEREAS, The VA has tried to address the opioid epidemic | ||
| sweeping the nation by developing "Safe Opioid" procedures for VA | ||
| prescriptions; it now requires all its care providers, including | ||
| contractors, to use evidence-based guidelines for prescribing | ||
| opioid-based painkillers; in addition, it requires that community | ||
| health care providers have appropriate access to patient medical | ||
| history, encompassing all medication prescribed; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Our nation's veterans have made enormous sacrifices | ||
| to guarantee our freedoms, and although the nation can never fully | ||
| repay its debt of gratitude, it can and should ensure timely access | ||
| to the highest quality of medical care; now, therefore, be it | ||
| RESOLVED, That the 86th Legislature of the State of Texas | ||
| hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to enact | ||
| legislation to ensure that all veterans receive in a timely manner | ||
| the level of medical care that they have earned and that they so | ||
| richly deserve; and, be it further | ||
| RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official | ||
| copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to | ||
| the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of | ||
| Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the | ||
| members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that | ||
| this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a | ||
| memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. | ||
