| Dear John,
Veterans across the country continue to have to fight against a failed VA health care system. Perhaps no one knows how brutal this fight can be more than the veterans who live in the extremely rural areas of Montana, where access to Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical facilities often means a veteran must drive hours or wait months for an appointment.
As a spouse of a combat veteran, I've witnessed my husband deal with barrier after barrier trying to get the care he needs at the VA. His fight for access to quality and timely health care became so hard, it impacted our entire family. After watching him struggle, I knew that I had to get in the fight too.
That’s when I met Chris Enget. At the time, Chris was the strategic director with Concerned Veterans for America in Montana. I had seen him online, heard him on the radio, and met him while he engaged with his community and advocated for veterans’ health care reform. When I connected with him, he not only helped my husband understand his health care choice rights, but he also gave me a purpose and a job.
Now, side by side with patriots across the state of Montana, I’m fighting for a better future for veterans and all Americans. Chris has since moved on from just educating the community in Montana to becoming CVA’s education director and helping all Americans across the country to have a voice.
Veterans need options outside of a failed VA socialist health care system. Why should veterans be left waiting for critical health care appointments when there are doctors that can see them sooner? Why should veterans be driving hours to a VA clinic when they have a doctor down the road? The MISSION Act was supposed to fix these issues, but the VA continues to view them as guidelines and sidesteps the access standards it put in place. With the Veterans’ ACCESS Act, accountability on these shortcomings are within our grasp!
With the Veterans’ ACCESS Act, no longer will Congress or the VA be able to ignore the blatant mistreatment of our veterans. By making the access standards law, we will have a clear path to getting veterans the true choice they deserve in their health care. But this fight isn’t a solo one. It takes all of us, working together, to really effect the change.
If you feel the call like I did to help, don’t just yell from the sidelines. Get in the game! Together, we can make sure veterans’ unique perspectives are elevated to a level that can’t be ignored so that Americans are able to lead healthy and prosperous lives.
With Freedom,
Dawn Longie
CVA, Grassroots Engagement Director | 
