House Acts to Improve Care for Veterans

Source: AP

House Acts to Improve Care for Veterans
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Mar 28, 5:34 PM (ET)

By JIM ABRAMS

WASHINGTON (AP) - Reacting to shabby treatment of wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the House on Wednesday created a coterie of case managers, advocates and counselors for injured troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The "Wounded Warrior Assistance Act," approved 426-0, also establishes a hotline for medical patients to report problems in their treatment and demands an end to the red tape that has frustrated disabled service members as they move from Pentagon to Veterans Affairs Department care.

The bill would affect some of the more than 25,000 U.S. service members wounded in hostile action since military operations began in Iraq and Afghanistan.


U.S. Army Sgt. Chad Rozanski, 21, injured by a roadside bomb in Iraq, attends a job fair for wounded soldiers at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Tuesday, March 27, 2007. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)


"We cannot allow those who have fought our foreign enemies in the defense of freedom to come home and fight the federal bureaucracy to get the health care they need," said Rep. Candice Miller, R-Mich., a member of the Armed Services Committee.

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