Expanding Travel Benefits for Veterans
During a June 30 Subcommittee on Health legislative hearing, I highlighted the unique challenges veterans in the Northern Mariana Islands face in accessing health care. With no full-time VA medical facilities or physicians serving Saipan, Tinian, and Rota, many veterans must travel outside the Marianas to receive needed treatment. To address this gap, I introduced H.R. 9316, the Travel Assistance for Veterans in Medical Deserts Act, which would waive the 30 percent service-connected disability rating requirement for VA travel benefits for veterans in the Marianas and the Freely Associated States. This would help ensure all our veterans can access care without shouldering the full burden of costly travel. Our veterans should not face additional barriers to care simply because they live in some of America’s most remote communities. I look forward to working with the Department of Veterans Affairs and my colleagues on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee and to advance this legislation as an important interim solution until the CNMI has its own Community-Based Outpatient Clinic.