| Michaud Joins President Obama for Signing of Bill to Secure Timely Funding for Veterans’ Health Care |
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| Thursday, October 22 2009 | |
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WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Mike Michaud, Chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Health, joined President Obama at the White House as he signed H.R. 1016, the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act. The President thanked Michaud for his leadership on the issue during a speech in which he highlighted the importance of the legislation. The legislation, which Michaud helped introduce earlier this year, is a top priority for Veterans Service Organizations and Congress. The bill authorizes funding for Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical care programs one year in advance of the start of each fiscal year, beginning in 2011. “I was proud to work with a bipartisan group of Senators and Members of Congress to introduce this bill in February. The signing of this bill into law represents an historic step forward for veterans’ health care,” said Michaud. “Togus VA Medical Center in Augusta will benefit from this legislation because it would allow them to better plan, expand and ultimately improve health care for our veterans in Maine.” Advanced appropriations for medical care will provide VA with up to a year to plan how to deliver the most efficient and effective care to an increasing number of veterans with increasingly complex medical conditions. Michaud pushed this idea for years because uneven budgets cycles and funding shortfalls have contributed to the rationing of VA health care and the inability of the VA to properly plan from year to year.
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