Dear John,

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At the end of last year, U.S. Representative Chris Deluzio authored an opinion piece that addressed what he labelled as attacks on veterans’ health care. My friend and CVA colleague, Chris Enget, endured years of additional surgeries due to VA malpractice. As he read the article, Chris was initially encouraged that someone in Congress was finally paying attention to the struggles that he and other veterans face in accessing the care they've earned. Unfortunately, as he read on, Chris realized Rep. Deluzio completely misunderstood what was causing veterans' health care failures.

Rep. Deluzio’s piece, placed in The Hill, falsely claimed the parties that were responsible for these “attacks” were House Republicans and organizations like Concerned Veterans for America. But for too many veterans, it’s really the VA that continues to put barriers in place.

Chris knew that someone had to set the record straight, and responded in The Hill, with his rebuttal:

“You can imagine my surprise when I read on to learn Rep. Deluzio believes the attacks are coming from his Republican colleagues and even my own organization, Concerned Veterans for America.

We can agree on the warning — veterans’ health care is indeed under attack. But the call is coming from inside the house. Attacks on veterans’ health care have long been coming from the Department of Veterans Affairs itself. “

As a veteran and VA patient, I too have experienced mismanagement of my health care by the VA. Congress passed the VA MISSION Act in 2018 and intended it to “change the game” and allow the veteran to be in the “driver seat.” Unfortunately, it allowed the VA to write the access standards as agency rules and the VA has consistently ignored those rules and therefore continues to put veterans’ needs second to VA bureaucracy.

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So, like Chris, I agree that our health care is under attack, but Congress needs to understand the attacks are coming from within to truly fix the problem.

The only way the VA will allow the community care as prescribed in the MISSION Act is by Congress codifying these access standards into a federal statute to prevent the VA from skirting the law. The Veterans’ ACCESS Act will do just that.

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You can act with us today and send a clear message to Congress that it isn’t republicans or CVA that is making health care worse for veterans, but the VA itself.

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I know America is better when veterans have access to health care and can live their best lives. I hope you’ll join us in this fight!

With Freedom,
Brian Fay
Digital Organizing Manager, CVA