John Plahovinsak
On November 18, 2024, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 8371, the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act by a vote of 389 to 9.
Of the fifteen (15) Ohio Representatives, Congressman James Jordan was the only negative vote. Four (4) Ohio Representatives Troy Balderson; Mike Carey; Michael Turner and Brad Wenstrup have co-sponsored this bill.
This massive 254-page bipartisan legislation is a combination of several bills introduced by representatives and it deals with how the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) delivers health care and benefits to disabled veterans.
This bill encompasses the improving of veterans’ mental health issues, long-term medical care services, expanding the VA’s Caregiver Program, veterans’ homelessness, expanding veterans’ dental care, educational assistance to veterans, and increasing burial benefits.
Now that H.R. 8371 has passed the House of Representatives, it was forwarded to the U.S. Senate for their consideration. The Senate, if considered this 118th Congressional Session, may add or delete provisions contained in H.R. 8371 for their accompanying bill.
H.R. 8371, according to the House VA Committee Chairman Mike Bost, upholds the 2018 MISSION Act, which expanded the VA’s Community Care Program and ensures veterans that they can have “access to timely health care they want and where they want it.”
“The Dole Act would help deliver on the promises we have made to the veterans and their families’’ said Representative Bost. “Some of the provisions in the Dole Act would quite literally save veterans’ lives.”
One key provision of the veteran-related bill would require the VA to develop a plan to expand same-day scheduling for medical appointments.
H.R. 8371 requires each VA physician, podiatrist, optometrist, and dentist to receive an annual pay evaluation. This would give VA more flexibility to offer pay awards, as well as recruitment, retention, and relocation bonuses to these healthcare workers.
The VA would be required to forward to Congress an Annual Report on the outcome of these pay evaluations, and all resulting market pay adjustments made by the VA.
“H.R. 8371 is the culmination of months of work, negotiation, and fine-tuning on behalf of our Nation’s Veterans,” said Congressman Jack Bergman. “This bipartisan package makes dozens of key reforms to improve VA, including multiple bills I have been honored to lead in the House like Gerald’s Law and the Elizabeth Dole Home Care Act.”
The Gerald’s Law Bill (formerly entitled H.R. 234) provides VA burial and funeral benefits for Veterans who choose to pass away at home while receiving VA hospice care. An editorial on this legislative bill was contained in a previous edition of The Clermont Sun newspaper.
The Elizabeth Dole Home Care Act (formerly introduced as H.R. 542) improves and expands VA support for aging disabled veterans and their caregivers. An editorial on this legislative bill was contained in a previous edition of the Clermont Sun Newspaper.
Other H.R. 8371 provisions contained in the 254-page legislative bill include: (1) strengthening VA Community Care by ensuring disabled veterans can avoid long-distance travel and wait times to receive care, and (2) requiring the VA to reimburse the cost of rural veterans transported by ambulance to receive emergency care.
“The Disabled American Veterans (DAV) strongly supports the swift passage of the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act to strengthen benefits and health care for veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors,” said the DAV National Legislative Director Joy Ilem.
This critical legislation addresses some of the most urgent needs of veterans and caregivers,” concluded DAV Director Ilem, “by improving veterans’ mental health and long-term care services, the VA’s caregiver program, veterans’ homeless programs, expanding dental care, education assistance, burial benefits and more.”
H.R. 8371 would also reauthorize funding the VA’s Veteran Employment Through Technology Education Courses (VET TEC) Program through September of 2027. This would allow up to 4,000 veterans to enroll in the VET-TEC Program each year.
This program places transitioning servicemembers and disabled veterans into training to learn information technology (IT) skills or to start or advance tech careers. The VET-TEC program was started as a five-year pilot. The VA stopped accepting new applications in April 2024.
The VET-TEC program has an outstanding 84% graduation rate for the 12,000 veterans who have already completed training. An editorial on this specific issue was contained in a previous edition of The Clermont Sun newspaper.
The H.R. 8371 would streamline the VA disability benefits claim process by updating IT and claims processing systems. “This important bill package will strengthen the VA Community Care System, streamline the disability benefits process,” said Congressman Bergman, “and improve oversight and accountability at the VA.”
“Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) is pleased by the House’s bipartisan passage of the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act,” said Robert Thomas, National President of PVA.
“This legislation ensures catastrophically disabled veterans have access to the critical home care supports needed to help us remain independent in our communities,” concluded PVA National President Thomas. “It also ensures our caregivers receive the support and protections they need to ensure our well-being.”
My Opinion: Although H.R. 8371 has been passed by the House of Representatives, it still faces many challenges as it is introduced in the Senate. One of the two main obstacles to passage is the cost of this bill.
Since so many legislative bills, (like Gerald’s Law and the Elizabeth Dole Home Care Act), are included in H.R. 837, it is extremely difficult to put a price tag on the cost.
The second obstacle is the timing. Realistically, the 118th Congressional Session is almost over and Senators realistically do not have sufficient time to thoughtfully study and react to a 254-page proposed legislative bill.
Time will surely tell if all the good portions of H.R. 8371 will be passed for disabled veterans and caregivers – or will they have to wait again!
BioSketch: John Plahovinsak is a retired 32-year Army veteran who served from 1967 to 1999. He is the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) Department of Ohio’s Hospital Chairman and he can be contacted at plahovinsak@msn.com.