Chet Edwards For Congress - Health Care

Making Health Care More Affordable & Accessible

Kat — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 10:51:56 -0700

Making Health Care More Affordable & Accessible

Chet Edwards believes we must maintain our quality health care system in the United States while reducing costs.

He has fought to ensure health care coverage for children of working families and our senior citizens. Chet is a member of the Rural Healthcare Caucus, and works to make certain those living in rural areas have access to the healthcare they deserve.

Chet supports legislation to stop big pharmaceutical drug companies from unfairly charging Americans twice the price for the same drugs sold in Mexico and Canada.

Chet voted for the 2007 Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act, which allows Medicare to use its buying power to negotiate with drug companies to lower drug costs.

Chet thinks seniors should have a prescription drug plan that doesn't force them into HMOs that prohibit their choice of doctors.

Chet favors cracking down on lawyers who file frivolous medical malpractice lawsuits that drive up costs.

Chet has voted for the law that would allow small businesses to join health alliances, so they can reduce high health insurance premiums for employees.

Protecting Social Security & Medicare

Kat — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:16:18 -0700

Protecting Social Security & Medicare

Chet Edwards knows that Social Security and Medicare have done more for seniors' independence, health and financial security than any other federal initiatives.

Chet helped stop the privatization of Social Security in 2005, because he believes privatizing Social Security or Medicare will erode guaranteed benefits to seniors.

Chet believes we must take strong actions to reduce enormous federal deficits which will undermine future Social Security and Medicare benefits.

Chet supports legislation to stop big pharmaceutical drug companies from unfairly charging Americans twice the price for the same drugs sold in Mexico and Canada.

Chet voted for the 2007 Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act, which allows Medicare to use its buying power to negotiate with drug companies to lower drug costs.

Chet thinks seniors should have a prescription drug plan that doesn't force them into HMOs that prohibit their choice of doctors.

Record VA appropriations bill up for House vote

Kat — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:21:32 -0700

Record VA appropriations bill up for House vote

Waco Tribune-Herald | September 24, 2008 | By Regina Dennis | Tribune-Herald staff writer

The House of Representatives will vote Friday on a $118.9 billion military construction and Veterans Affairs appropriations bill for the 2009 fiscal year before adjourning for this session.

The bill marks $47.6 billion for the Department of Veteran Affairs for improving veterans access to medical services and aid for homeless veterans. The bill also sets aside $25 billion toward improving military housing and quality of life for troops, expanding the Army and Marine Corps, and funding base realignments and closures.

The bill represents a $9 billion increase over the historic veterans affairs bill for the 2008 fiscal year.a

U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards (D-Waco), chairman of the military construction and veteran affairs appropriations subcommittee, said the bill represents Democrats' commitment to supporting soldiers and military operations.

"This bill builds on the historic increases in the fiscal year 2008 bill and sends a clear message to American's troops, veterans and their families that we honor and respect their service and sacrifice," he said in a statement. "With this bill, House Democrats will have done more to increase veterans funding in two years than Republicans did in 12 years. Democrats have kept our promise to American's veterans. This bill is about maintaining a strong national defense, improving military readiness and respecting with word and deeds those veterans who defend us and our freedom."

Bill would help improve barracks, hospitals

Kat — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:36:08 -0700

Bill would help improve barracks, hospitals

The Army Times
By Karen Jowers | Times staff writer | Monday June 23, 2008

A $72.8 billion bill that would provide better barracks for some Marine and soldier trainees, fix antiquated military medical facilities, hire more veterans claims processors and increase access to care for veterans has cleared its first hurdle in the House of Representatives.

"There are not many lobbyists running around Capitol Hill fighting for better housing for 18- and 19-year-old young men and women who made the decision to serve and sacrifice for our country," noted Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Texas.

Lawmakers have added $200 million for extra troop housing for soldier and Marine trainees to the Pentagon's fiscal 2009 military construction request.

"We want to send the message to soldiers and Marines that we value and respect their decision to serve by improving the barracks they live in when they train," said Edwards, chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on military construction and veterans affairs.

The subcommittee passed the bill unanimously by voice vote.

The extra barracks funding is part of the overall $24.8 billion bill for military construction, barracks and family housing, and base realignment and closure actions, which is $400 million more than the Pentagon's fiscal 2009 budget request.

Edwards said lawmakers learned in recent hearings that there is an "enormous" need to refurbish military medical treatment facilities, many of which are old and do not meet current standards for care.

In a Feb. 7 hearing with the senior enlisted advisers, Sgt. Maj. of the Army Kenneth Preston said that while military medical facilities generally are well-maintained and operated, they are old and are not configured or constructed to provide the full range of treatment available in modern medical facilities.

Of the 25 major Army hospitals or medical centers, eight are more than 50 years old, and many others are between 25 and 50 years old.

Edwards said he hoped lawmakers' efforts to provide more funding have brought the issue to the attention of top officials, and that future budget submissions will include funding increases to address the backlog.

The bill also provides funding to hire an additional 1,400 Veterans Affairs claims processors, in addition to the 703 new hires that were included in the VA's 2009 budget submission.

All told, the bill would provide $47.7 billion in discretionary funding for VA. That is $2.9 billion above the White House's 2009 budget request, and $4.6 billion more than this year's VA budget.

The bill includes $3.8 billion for specialty mental health services and $584 million for substance abuse programs. Edwards said lawmakers want to increase their oversight in those areas to ensure VA is able to provide the best care now and in the future for veterans with mental illness and post-traumatic stress disorder, who are struggling with substance abuse or considering suicide, and those suffering from sexual trauma.

"One of the biggest challenges is to make sure VA follows through," said Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn. "The VA is a big bureaucracy. If Congress doesn't lead and direct and hold them accountable, all the money in the world is not going to lead to more efficiency. We're throwing a lot of money at them, [but] it's easier to appropriate or allocate money than it is to hold these agencies accountable."

Lawmakers added $11 million for VA's inspector general to restore a budget cut that was made in the administration's original request, and to provide additional personnel to inspect community-based outpatient clinics and vet centers.

The bill also would provide:

• $200 million to increase access to fee-based care for veterans in areas where VA does not offer services.

• $568 million to increase VA health care enrollment of middle-income veterans.

• $300 million to address a maintenance backlog at VA medical facilities.

• $58 million to restore a cut made by VA for medical research in trauma, mental health and other areas important to veterans .

Our veterans are finally getting what they've earned

econnor — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 12:11:31 -0700

The Dallas Morning News

OPINION

Chet Edwards: Our veterans are finally getting what they've earned

Benefits increase is a fulfilled promise long overdue

Monday, February 11, 2008

This week is National Salute to Hospitalized Veterans Week, an appropriate time for Americans to count our blessings and thank our veterans, who have sacrificed so much on behalf of the American family.

At 155 VA hospitals across our nation, veterans face daily the physical and mental wounds of combat long after their military service has been completed. We can never fully repay our debt of gratitude, but we have a moral obligation to support them with our words and our deeds.

At the Dallas VA hospital, there is a tradition of schoolchildren bringing Valentine's cards to our veterans. Year after year, I have seen on the faces of veterans, young and old, the gratitude of knowing their service has not been forgotten. If you live near a VA hospital or clinic, take the time to visit and say "thank you." Those two simple words can make a big difference in the lives of those who have done so much for us.

If you don't live near a VA facility, call a veteran you know and thank them for their service. If you're traveling through an airport and see a young serviceman or woman departing for combat, let these veterans of tomorrow know you are grateful.

For those of us in Congress, it is vital that we support our veterans not just with our speeches, but with our budgets. At long last, it's a new day for America's veterans. After years of VA budgets that barely kept up with inflation, the new Congress has kept its promise to honor veterans with historic budget increases.

In 2007, the new Congress increased health care and benefits funding for veterans by $11.8 billion, which was $5.5 billion more than requested by the president. This is the largest funding increase in the 77-year history of the Veterans Administration and a larger increase than the combined total of the six previous years in Congress.

Our veterans have earned every dime of this funding.

For 5.8 million veterans in the VA health care system, it will mean better care, more doctors and shorter waiting lines for medical appointments.

For the 400,000 veterans backlogged in the VA claims processing system, it will mean 3,100 new claims processors to reduce the unconscionable six-month delay for those waiting to receive their earned benefits.

For Iraq and Afghan war veterans, it will mean everyone coming into the VA system will be screened for post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.

For the most severely wounded vets, it will mean modernized polytrauma centers and a new polytrauma center in San Antonio, the first of its kind anywhere in the Southwestern United States.

For veterans from all wars with mental health issues, it will mean a minimum of $2.9 billion dedicated to better mental health care services, a $700 million increase over last year.

For veterans in rural areas far from VA hospitals, it will mean more VA clinics closer to home, and for the first time since 1979, when gasoline prices were 95 cents per gallon, VA travel reimbursement is increasing from 11 cents to 28.5 cents per mile.

For all Americans who never want to see one veteran living in the squalid conditions Army soldiers were subjected to at Walter Reed Annex 18 last year, it will mean nearly $1.5 billion in new funding to do preventive construction maintenance at our VA hospitals and clinics.

For thousands of homeless veterans, increasing the homeless program by $23 million will mean the dignity of a roof over their heads and hope for the future.

In just 12 months, the new Congress has come a long way in keeping our promises to those who have kept their promise to serve our nation, but we should do more. In the weeks, months and years ahead, let us all work together to thank our veterans with our words and our deeds. They deserve no less.

City, hospital receive federal funds for repairs

econnor — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 12:11:31 -0700

Wednesday, January 02, 2008
City, hospital receive federal funds for repairs

Madisonville Meteor
By Dave Lewis | Meteor staff writer

Madison County residents will be seeing visible proof of their tax dollars at work this coming year with federal funds coming here to help repair the roof at Madison St. Joseph Health Center and to resurface Collard Street.

According to an announcement Thursday, Dec. 27, from the office of U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, $117,000 has been earmarked to renovate the roof and emergency room at Madison St. Joseph, a 57-year-old non-profit facility.

The hospital here has seen the number of emergency room visits increase by nearly 40 percent in recent years in what has been designated a Health Professional Shortage Area and a Medically Underserved Area by the federal government.

Funding for both the hospital and Collard Street comes from the final 2008 appropriations bill, which passed both the U.S. House and Senate earlier in December and was signed by President George W. Bush on Dec. 26.

“I am pleased that my colleagues in the Congress approved my request to help relocate the emergency room for the St. Joseph's Hospital in Madisonville, and I especially want to commend Madisonville community leaders for stressing the importance of this priority project to me,” said Edwards, who is a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee.

The Collard Street project was earmarked for $169,000, which will help repair potholes and broken curbs on one of the town's major east-west feeder streets.

“Improving roads,” said Edwards, “is important for future economic growth and the quality of life in Madisonville. I want to thank Madisonville city leaders for recommending this important project to me.”

Madisonville Mayor Sonny Dean said receipt of the news was “fantastic.”

Interim city manager Dave Ward said, “We're going to rebuild Collard street, not just fix potholes. I'm not 100 percent sure how much of Collard Street we can repair. We'll probably have enough to go from S.H. 75 to S.H. 21 and widen it a bit to make it more conducive to two-way traffic and put a good surface on it rather than seal coat.

“I'm going to get bids to hot mix (asphalt). That is what I hope we'd be able to do to it. It's a very busy street and needs to be widened a good 18-24 inches. I wish we would have enough to go the full length, but I just don't think $196,000 will go all the way.

“I will assure you the west side of Collard to North Madison that has been a problem area will be fixed. That's one of the busiest intersections in town.”

Battle brewing in Congress over CHIP funding

Kat — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 10:00:14 -0700

July 11, 2007

Battle brewing in Congress over CHIP funding

Waco Tribune Herald
By David Doerr |Tribune-Herald staff writer

“Our goal ultimately should be to try to see that every child in America has health care,” said U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco.

A fight is shaping up in Congress over tripling the funding for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program after state lawmakers recently approved measures designed to rebuild the program’s enrollment in Texas.

This spring, a bipartisan group of congressmen authorized adding $50 billion to the program over the next five years to keep up with the rising cost of health care and to enroll more children in the program. But the White House criticized the proposal in recent weeks in an attempt to rein in the proposed increase.

Democrats have pushed for the extra $50 billion as part of a major expansion of the program commonly known as CHIP. The 10-year-old program subsidizes the cost of insuring children living in families that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford private insurance.

“Our goal ultimately should be to try to see that every child in America has health care,” said U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco. “The Democratic proposal moves us an important step in the right direction.”

But President Bush has recently said that Democratic proposal would expand CHIP “far beyond its original intent.” The proposal would put CHIP in competition with private health care coverage options and would be tantamount to the first steps toward universal health care coverage, he said.

“Government-run health care would deprive Americans of the choice and competition that comes from the private market,” Bush said during a June 27 press briefing. “It would cause huge increases in government spending, which could lead to higher taxes. It would result in rationing, inefficiency and long waiting lines. It would replace the doctor-patient relationship with dependency on people here in Washington, D.C.”

The federal government spends $5 billion a year on CHIP across the country, totaling $25 billion over five years. Congress previously adopted a budget blueprint that would provide up to $50 billion more, totaling $75 billion over five years.

Bush’s proposal is to add a total of $5 billion over five years to the program.

But many believe Bush’s proposed increase is not enough to keep up with inflation and to cover the estimated 2 million children across the country who are eligible for the program but not enrolled.

This spring, the Texas Legislature passed changes to eligibility rules adopted in 2003 blamed for cutting the state’s enrollment from about 500,000 to 325,000 children.

“Texas has at least 200,000 uninsured out there that were cut before and maybe another 100,000 after that,” said Anne Dunkleburg, assistant director of the Austin-based Center for Public Policy Priorities. “We can’t rebuild our program unless the (funding) grows, too.”

Averitt backs more funds

State Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco, who helped lead the effort to revise the eligibility rules in Texas this spring, said he views CHIP as a fiscally responsible way to issue health coverage for uninsured children. The new rules are expected to add about 127,000 children to the CHIP rolls in Texas this year.

Because hospitals are not going to turn away uninsured children in need of health care, the state is going to pick up the tab one way or another, Averitt said. The president’s proposed CHIP increase should be a “rock-bottom starting place,” he said.

“(CHIP) ultimately saves taxpayers money and it provides for a more stable family life for the folks to have some kind of dependable insurance coverage,” he said. “It is worthy of being considered for more funding.”

Rachel Klein, deputy director of health policy for Families USA, a Washington, D.C.-based affordable health-care advocacy group, said CHIP largely has support among Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill. However, there could be disagreement over how to fund the expansion.

Some have pushed for a higher federal excise tax on cigarette sales. Others have called for cutting subsidies to private vendors of Medicare coverage for seniors.

Edwards said he would rather see the increase funded by cutting out inefficiencies in other programs before looking to additional taxes. He also suggested taxing corporations that have sought to shield themselves from federal levies by moving their corporate headquarters to Caribbean islands.

The debate over how much to increase CHIP funding is still in play in Congress.

On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, told the Associated Press that the Senate Finance Committee had worked out an agreement to increase funding by only $35 billion through an increase in the tobacco tax. Other details were unavailable Tuesday but could be announced later this week.

Klein, from Families USA, said $35 billion would be better than nothing, but “the more money we have, the more kids we are going to be able to get covered.”

Edwards: $6.7B increase for vets' healthcare

Kat — Wed, 23 May 2007 15:43:28 -0700

May 23, 2007

Edwards' subcommittee passes $6.7 billion increase for veterans' healthcare

Waco Tribune Herald
By David Doerr |Tribune-Herald staff writer

“I’ve been pushing for this budget since last December and fighting for budgets like this for the last 16 years. New congressional leadership has agreed to make supporting our troops, their families and our veterans as the top priority in the 2008 congressional budget.”

Disregarding a veto threat from the White House, U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, passed an appropriations bill through his subcommittee Tuesday, calling for $3.8 billion more for veterans health care than the president has requested for the 2008 budget.

The bill, which adds $6.7 billion to the $36.5 billion of discretionary funding set aside for the 2007 budget, amounts to the largest single increase in the Veterans Affairs Department’s 77-year history.

But perhaps more importantly, the total proposed budget for the first time exceeds by $294 million the amount veterans service organizations have called for in their independent budget recommendation.

Edwards, who chairs the U.S. House Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee, said the nation’s veterans deserve no less.

“This is not a handout to veterans,” he said. “This is about providing them the earned benefits for their service and sacrifice to our country.”

The additional funding would provide better care and shorter waiting lines for visits with VA doctors, Edwards said. The legislation also targets the 177-day average wait veterans must endure for disability claims to be processed, by providing funds to hire 1,100 additional claims processors.

The increases are a reflection of the new Democratical-controlled Congress’ commitment to provide for veterans, Edwards said.

“I’ve been pushing for this budget since last December and fighting for budgets like this for the last 16 years,” said Edwards, who began his ninth term in Congress in January. “What happened is that new congressional leadership has agreed to make supporting our troops, their families and our veterans as the top priority in the 2008 congressional budget.”

David Autry, Disabled American Veterans spokesman, said the proposed budget increases were a significant step in the right direction. The increased patient load from soldiers returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is giving incentive to lawmakers to boost the VA’s budget, he said.

“I think what has been missing is the willingness to actually take a good hard look at what’s needed out there and try to fund the need rather than what fits within the constraints of the budget,” Autry said.

The bill marks the first time in the 21 years veterans organizations have been making independent budget recommendations that Congress has surpassed what they had requested, he said.

The bill also includes an $8.2 billion increase in military construction funding, which is $207 million more than President Bush’s requested.

The White House has issued a blanket veto threat against all bills funding domestic agency budgets that bust budget limits issued by Bush in February. But Edwards and other Democratic leaders are calculating that Bush will spare the veterans spending bill from a veto given the popular support for providing returning soldiers with medical care.

“Despite what the director of the White House budget office has said, I cannot imagine President Bush wanting to veto a bill that makes good on our promises to veterans and military families during a time of war,” Edwards said.