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Bill seeks hospitals for vets in every state

A bill introduced Wednesday in the Senate proposes to provide equal access in every state to a full-service veterans’ hospital.

Three states — Alaska, Hawaii and New Hampshire — do not have full-service veterans hospitals, but the bill, The Veterans Health Equity Act of 2009, orders only access to either a VA hospital or comparable contract services in the continental U.S.

Freshman Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., the chief sponsor of S. 239, made no secret of the fact that she is looking out for her state.

“New Hampshire is currently the only state that does not have a full-service veterans hospital or a military hospital that provides comparable care to veterans,” she said. “This imposes a great burden on too many New Hampshire veterans who are forced to travel out of state for routine medical services.”

New Hampshire’s other U.S. senator, Republican Judd Gregg, said the 130,000 veterans living in the state who need VA care travel to Maine, Massachusetts or Vermont.

“Often, especially in the winter months, interstate travel can be extremely dangerous in New England, and our veterans should not be forced to travel long distances in order to receive the medical care they have earned and deserve,” he said.

Shaheen, whose father, husband and son-in-law are veterans, called the situation for New Hampshire veterans “unconscionable.”

If it is “not feasible” to build a new full-service hospital in New Hampshire or to make the VA hospital in Manchester a full-service facility, the bill requires contracting out for services, she said. “Our veterans deserve first-rate medical care, regardless of where they live,” she said.

A similar bill is being sponsored in the House of Representatives by Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, D-N.H.

The legislation faces an uphill battle because New Hampshire politicians have been unable to persuade the House and Senate committees overseeing veterans’ issues, or the Department of Veterans Affairs, that the state needs a full-service hospital.

VA Secretary James Peake visited the Manchester hospital last year when the issue heated up during the congressional elections, and he left without making any promises to support a bigger hospital with expanded services.