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State Veterans Advisory Committee Urges Congress to Renew, Improve Veterans Choice

Peter Biello
/
NHPR
Dave Kenney is chairman of the State Veterans Advisory Committee.

The New Hampshire State Veterans Advisory Committee is asking Congress to permanently fund the Veterans Choice Program.

This program allows veterans to receive health care from their local hospitals. Its funding is expected to end later this year.

Veterans have complained about long waits for care, which the program was supposed to remedy, and civilian doctors have complained about not getting timely payments for care given to Veterans Choice patients.

Dave Kenney is the chairman of the State Veterans Advisory Committee. He says the care veterans receive is good, but getting access to that care is often difficult. 

"One of the things that is crucial to [providing healthcare for veterans] is removing the confusion and removing the levels of bureaucracy that stymie them from getting the actual care," Kenney says.

Kenney says all four members of the state's congressional delegates have expressed support for Veterans Choice, though a bill to secure permanent funding has yet to be introduced in Congress.

Peter Biello is the host of All Things Considered and Writers on a New England Stage at New Hampshire Public Radio. He has served as a producer/announcer/host of Weekend Edition Saturday at Vermont Public Radio and as a reporter/host of Morning Edition at WHQR in Wilmington, North Carolina.
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