Assemblyman Sgt. Robert Andrzejczak (D-Atlantic/Cape May/Cumberland) issued a multimedia package Monday on an Assembly resolution urging the United States Congress to consider changes to federal law that would allow military veterans to receive health care at non-federal Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities, following its unanimous passage by the General Assembly.
Currently, military veterans utilizing the VA as their primary form of health coverage have to wait weeks and travel dozens, if not hundreds of miles, to access approved VA facilities to receive even the most basic medical care. Andrzejczak’s measure (ACR-164) formally requests that Congress consider legislation that would enable veterans to receive health care at any facility, regardless of its VA affiliation.
The multimedia package consists of a video of the Andrzejczak discussing the resolution and audio and a transcript of same.
The video can be accessed directly via our website — www.assemblydems.com — or by clicking here.
The audio file is available upon request.
A transcript of comments from the assemblyman is appended below:
Assemblyman Robert Andrzejczak (D-Cape May), Assembly Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee Chair:
“Right now, our veterans have VA healthcare. So, if you’re in the VA system and you’re using the VA as your primary health benefit, you’re going to go them for everything. You’re going to go there for a common cold. You’re going to go there all the way up until cancer treatment, which, in most cases, they have to travel very, very far to be able to receive.
“Where I am in South Jersey, for me to go to the VA hospital, I pass 11 other hospitals along the way. To me, that’s just really mind-blowing that I have to travel that far and pass that many hospitals when I could stop at any one of them and be able to get the proper care that I need.
“So, we very much need to urge Congress to look into revamping the VA system and allowing our veterans to be able to go to the local hospitals and doctors. It would not only help out the veterans, it’s also going to help out locally. So it’s going to be good for the hospitals and good for the veterans.”
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Andrzejczak himself is a veteran and a VA hospital patient. He served in the U.S. Army, attaining the rank of Sergeant before being wounded during a 2008 deployment in Iraq. His convoy was hit by an anti-tank grenade, injuring Andrzejczak and resulting in the loss of his left leg.