85R6398 BPG-D     By: Metcalf, Keough, Bell, Darby, Flynn, H.C.R. No. 44       et al.       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.