Working next to us at the vets' roundtable with Nancy Pelosi was the high-energy reporter and weekend anchor Betsy Gessell of KEYC-TV. She filed the report, Nancy Pelosi Hears Mn Veteran's Issues:
Speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi met with 1st District Congressman Tim Walz and state military veterans in Minneapolis today to discuss issues they face when they return home from service tours.News 12's Betsy Gessell was there as well and has more on the issues at hand.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was given a warm welcome today when she met with state veterans at the VA Medical Center in Minneapolis - that shortly turned to an intense discussion about access to healthcare in rural areas and challenges veterans face in transitioning into civilian life.
Ken Delano of Albert Lea says, ''As a rural vet I have to come all the way up here to Minneapolis to get my care. Army military police vet Ken Delano is also concerned that the limited access to healthcare for rural vets severely strains their income.But he says he has a solution.Delano says, ''Expanding what is called community based out patient clinics to where they contract with local clinics for the veterans to go there for basic care.''
Congress's solution is to raise the mileage reimbursement rate from 28 cents to 48 and a half cents a mile.
However 1st District congressman Tim Walz says that may not accommodate everyone.Walz says, ''The problem is that there's a law written in that the deductible goes up on their health care site as their mileage reimbursement rate goes up."
Marine and Mankato resident Michael McLaughlin stressed - a separate issue is the difficulties of returning to civilian life after a service tour.McLaughlin Says, ''A lot of guys come home and they just feel secluded and go off and start working that 9 to 5 job and miss out on all the benefits and a lot of people have a lot of built up tension and anger that they don't know how to deal with the best.''
Speaker Pelosi says, ''We hear you - some of it is in the works, we have to do better.''
No matter what issue was discussed today the message is clear, and that is no soldier shall be left behind. Speaker Pelosi says, ''In the military, we will never leave a soldier behind on the battlefield. We say in Congress: And when they come home, we will not leave them behind as well." In Minneapolis, Betsy Gessell News 12.
Video here.
Comments