News
Sen. Heitkamp visits Bottineau
Scott Wagar
07/15/2014
U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp made a visit to Bottineau on Friday evening to meet with local veterans and discuss a number of issues that concern veterans.
The primary issues Heitkamp discussed were ways to improve health care for veterans and the new VA bill, which is currently at a stalemate in the U.S. House over how to finance the bill.
“When you hear about what happened in VA hospitals across the nation in the news media recently I say shame on the VA, but shame on us if we do nothing about it,” Heitkamp said. “Fraud and failure, that is what we heard, right? Not here in North Dakota, thank goodness, but fraud and failure in other parts of the country.
“We had a great bill through the Senate, and we were in talks with the House, but now everybody is hung up because they don’t know how to pay for the bill,” Heitkamp continued to say. “We (Senate) think it is an emergency and we ought to pay for it right away.”
Heitkamp has been a lifelong supporter of the veterans, and one way she is showing her support for veterans is with a plan she established which keeps veterans’ benefits close to home, especially for those veterans who are elderly.
At the present moment, Heitkamp is lobbying to transition away from VA services to a card program where veterans can utilize the card wherever they choose to receive their medical treatments.
By using a card, this allows veterans to stay closer to home and to choose the health care center they want to be seen as patients.
Veterans services are fighting Heitkamp on her idea of a card program, but she is determined to see it through and continues to lobby for such a program.
Another way Heitkamp is trying to assist veterans is by lobbying for a one cent sales tax across the nation, which would be utilized in veteran service programs.
During her keynote address, Heitkamp also stated that she is a supporter of all treatments for Post Traumatic Stress (PTS); making sure that veterans’ families receive his or her benefits after they pass away and to see that veterans in our country are well taken care of by their country.
“We got to do better with health care, we got to do better with education benefits and educating our veterans about benefits,” Heitkamp said, who added that when it comes PTS she would like to see alternative therapy utilized outside of medications to assist veterans, which could include the dog companionship program and sweat lodges currently used by Native American veterans.
During the meeting, veterans were given the opportunity to ask questions to Heitkamp, some of which included questions on agent orange and case studies concerning the deadly chemical; post traumatic stress and other behavior health issues; improving veterans’ benefits; answers about Gulf War Syndrome; the distance some vets have to travel to get VA services; and providing quality housing for veterans and their families while being treated at the VA hospital in Fargo.
Heitkamp stated that she would look into these issues and make every effort to assist the local veterans with their needs.
Heitkamp’s trip to Bottineau is a project set up by the senator to assist state veterans with their needs.
“The conversation was part of Heitkamp’s efforts to better understand the unique issues facing North Dakota veterans. Heitkamp continually travels the state to hear firsthand from them about their experiences with the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) health care system,” stated a press release from Heitkamp’s office.
“She uses the input to educate her colleagues and push the VA for improvements, including the need for the VA to do more outreach directly to highly rural areas such as Native Americans reservations and streamline its process for allowing eligible veterans to access non-VA care in their own communities.”