Bill Would Facilitate Long-Term Care

Veterans would gain increased access to long-term health care, under a measure now pending before the Senate. The bill, sponsored by Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and John Hoeven, R-N.D., would allow veterans to use their VA benefits to cover costs of staying in nursing homes near their communities. Private extended-care providers presently can offer services to veterans, but many such facilities have been prevented from doing so because of red tape. The measure would eliminate such obstacles by allowing VA to make agreements with long-term care facilities along the same easier terms the government enters with private facilities that provide services for Medicare and Medicaid recipients. A comparable bill, sponsored by Reps. Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., and Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, is pending before the House.