Committee Passes Amata-Cosponsored Veterans ACCESS Act

Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata, who serves as Vice Chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee (HVAC), is a cosponsor of H.R. 740, the Veterans’ Assuring Critical Care Expansions to Support Servicemembers (ACCESS) Act, led by Chairman Mike Bost, who introduced it in January with a companion bill led by Senator Jerry Moran. The Committee voted through this bill, one of the Chairman’s top priorities, which is now eligible for consideration by the full U.S. House of Representatives, as part of a considerable slate of 25 Veterans’ bills reported out last week.

“It was good to see 25 bills advanced last week by our Committee to deal with numerous Veterans’ concerns,” said Vice Chairman Amata. “Congratulations to Chairman Bost on this bill. Our Veterans nationwide want more choices and reduced wait times, including the option of seeing community providers. The bottom line is the importance of getting services to our Veterans promptly.”

H.R. 740 builds on both the MISSION Act and the CHOICE Act – two major Veterans reforms of recent years – with the goal of improving veterans’ access to care through community providers under the Veterans Community Care Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs. The VA MISSION Act, officially the Modernizing Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Infrastructure in Communities Act, was signed into law in June 2018 to allow broader access to community providers. 

The Veterans' ACCESS Act would establish existing community care access standards as the baseline standard of care for veterans seeking care in the community, increase access to life-saving care, strengthen wait time standards, and create an online patient self-service scheduling system.  

The bill is supported by numerous Veteran service organizations, representing millions of Veterans, including Wounded Warrior Project (WWP), The American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (VFW), Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), Elizabeth Dole Foundation, AMVETS, Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA), Military Order of the Purple Heart, Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA), Mission Roll Call (MRC), IAVA, Veteran Action, Military Officers Association of America (MOAA), and Concerned Veterans for America.

Chairman Bost said, “The Veterans’ ACCESS Act strengthens and promotes the Veterans Community Care Program. It picks up where the MISSION Act and the Choice Act started. Many of us remember the waitlist scandals of 2014. It is as clear now as then: veterans deserve healthcare choice.” He continued, “This bill would take key steps toward better care for veterans. But this is not the end of the road. We wanted to require that VA’s referral standards prioritized veterans’ preference for care. We also wanted to increase access to Residential Rehabilitation Treatment programs.”

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