Stefanik hears veterans’ concerns
Officials say health care, transportation to medical appointments are major issues
WILTON, N.Y. » State and local officials shared concerns Tuesday about care and economic opportunities for veterans during
a roundtable hosted by U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Willsboro, at SUNY Adirondack’s Wilton campus.
The sophomore member of Congress also toured the Vet House and Guardian House for homeless male and female veterans,
respectively, in Ballston Spa.
Roundtable participants included state Sen. Kathleen Marchione, R-Halfmoon; and Assembly members Mary Beth Walsh, R-Halfmoon, Carrie Woerner, D-
Round Lake, and Dan Stec, R-Queensbury, a graduate of the Navy’s nuclear training facility in West Milton.
Representatives of various veterans-related groups such as Veterans of Foreign Wars, The American Legion and Veterans Business Council also took part.
Health care and transportation to medical appointments were two of the main concerns raised.
Veterans and Community Housing Coalition Executive Director Cheryl Hage-Perez took issue, specifically, with the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act, which she said doesn’t really give people a choice.
The program requires a 30-day waiting period, and veterans must see a physician recommended by the VA medical center instead of their own family physician.
Hage-Perez told the plight of a woman at Guardian House who fell and required immediate attention, including surgery. The case was an emergency so she was taken to Saratoga Hospital instead of the VA Hospital in Albany. When Saratoga Hospital billed the woman’s insurance through the VA, payment was denied, Hage-Perez said.
“We wound up getting $5,000 in donations from
the VFW and Legion to pay for her,” she said.
In a related matter, Saratoga County Veterans Service Agency Director Frank McClement said his office only has one 14-person van to take veterans to medical appointments at the VA Hospital in Albany.
“Transportation is a big issue,” he said. “We have to cover the entire geographic area of Saratoga County.”
Quite often, people with morning appointments have to spend the entire day waiting for those with later appointments.
McClement said he
would like to see the VA extend adult day health care into communities, where such programs are already offered, instead of making veterans travel to Albany. This would encourage more people to take advantage of such services, and reduce transportation costs at the same time, he said.
Stefanik is a strong critic of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act and voted for the only Republican bill in the House, which sought to repeal it.
“We’ll see what the Senate continues to do,” she said. “When we go back in September, we’ll be talking about bipartisan paths forward. Obviously, the Senate was working through their bill. The House did pass our bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. People are struggling with lack of choices. One third of the counties in this country only have one insurer on the Obamacare exchange. That’s not sustainable. I think both parties understand the need to have conversations and I think you’ll be hearing more about that in September.
“We need to do smaller fixes if the real and replace strategy isn’t going to move forward in the Senate,” Stefanik said.
Prior to her arrival, a state police K-9 bomb detection unit swept through first-floor rooms and several Saratoga County Sheriff’s officers were present throughout the event.