The Hill (4/1, Carney) reports that Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) has introduced a bill “to strengthen veterans’ mental healthcare by making it easier to get help outside of the Department of Veterans Affairs.” The measure “would amend the Veterans’ Access, Choice, and Accountability Act, to allow veterans access to non-VA mental healthcare if they can show the agency is not giving them ‘adequate or timely’ care.” In addition, the proposed legislation would “roll back a requirement that veterans must live more than 40 miles away from a VA facility or have waited longer than 30 days before accessing non-VA mental healthcare.”
Related Links:
— “Ernst offers bill to improve veterans’ access to mental healthcare,” Jordain Carney, The Hill, March 32, 2015.