85R6398 BPG-D
 
  By: Creighton S.C.R. No. 52
 
 
 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
         WHEREAS, The Veterans Administration is charged with
  ensuring the health and well-being of the nation's veterans, but in
  recent years, its failure to adequately perform its mission has
  been the source of scandal; and
         WHEREAS, In 2014, the United States Congress responded to
  unconscionable delays and denials of care at VA facilities by
  passing the Veterans' Access to Care through Choice,
  Accountability, and Transparency Act, which allows access to
  private medical care providers for veterans who have been waiting
  more than 30 days for an appointment or who live more than 40 miles
  from a VA facility; the law is set to expire in 2017, but U.S.
  Senator John McCain of Arizona has filed the Care Veterans Deserve
  Act of 2016, S.2896, which enhances and expands the major reforms of
  the Veterans' Choice Act; and
         WHEREAS, Provisions of S.2896 include allowing access to
  walk-in clinics without preauthorization or copayment, the
  expansion of VA pharmacy hours and telemedicine, and extending the
  Veterans Choice Card program to permit all qualified veterans to
  see the doctor of their choice; moreover, the bill encourages
  best-practices peer review for VA facilities; the act would broaden
  access to timely health care while offering greater choice and
  flexibility to every eligible veteran; and
         WHEREAS, Our nation's veterans have made enormous sacrifices
  to guarantee our freedoms, and although the nation can never fully
  repay its debt of gratitude, it can and should ensure timely access
  to the highest quality of medical care; now, therefore, be it
         RESOLVED, That the 85th Legislature of the State of Texas
  hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to pass S.2896,
  the Care Veterans Deserve Act of 2016; and, be it further
         RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
  copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
  the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of
  Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the
  members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that
  this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a
  memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.