Summit Participants to Include House VA Committee Chairman Jeff Miller, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Senator Joe Manchin, former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, M.D., others
Arlington, Va. – Today, Concerned Veterans for America (CVA) announced that it will release the findings and recommendations of its bipartisan Fixing Veterans Health Care Taskforce at a policy summit, headlined by senior lawmakers, health policy experts and veterans advocates, designed to explore and debate the best ways to deliver quality, timely care to our nation’s veterans.
The Fixing Veterans Health Care Summit, which will be held at the Capitol Hill Hyatt Regency on Thursday, February 26, from 8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., is the culmination of six months’ information-gathering, debate and hard work by the Taskforce bipartisan co-chairs (below) to develop a veteran-centric, expert-driven set of realistic policy proposals meant to dramatically improve health care delivery for veterans.
“The level of bipartisan interest on Capitol Hill in the work of the Taskforce is a testament to the seriousness of the problem and the significance of the report’s recommendations,” said Pete Hegseth, CEO of CVA. “We’re looking forward to hearing lawmakers’ reactions to our proposals and working with them and other reform-minded members to craft meaningful legislation that can drive the veterans’ health care agenda in the 114th Congress.”
Speakers and panelists will include taskforce co-chairs, VA and health care policy experts, as well as a bi-partisan group of current and former members of Congress, including:
o Rep. Jeff Miller (R-FL), Chairman, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
o Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), U.S. House Majority Leader
o Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Member, Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
• Taskforce co-chairs:
o Dr. Bill Frist (R-TN), former U.S. Senate Majority Leader
o Rep. Jim Marshall (D-GA), former Congressman, Army Ranger
o Dr. Mike Kussman, former Under Secretary for Health for the Department of Veterans Affairs
o Avik Roy, health care scholar at the Manhattan Institute
• Taskforce Executive Director: Darin Selnick, Senior Veterans Affairs Advisor for CVA
• Concerned Veterans for America CEO Pete Hegseth
The Fixing Veterans Health Care Taskforce, launched in September 2014, gathered ideas from the public on how to improve the delivery of veterans’ health care via an online submission portal. The portal remained open for six weeks and garnered over 1,200 submissions from current and former VA employees, hundreds of veterans, military family members, and concerned citizens. Following the closure of the portal, the Taskforce conducted an online survey of CVA members, receiving over 2,500 unique responses. A simultaneous poll of 1,000 veterans was conducted by The Tarrance Group.
“The Fixing Veterans Health Care Summit will provide a forum to discuss meaningful reforms in the ongoing process to better deliver health care to America’s veterans. This much-needed discussion will be driven by the release of the Fixing Veterans Health Care Taskforce’s new bi-partisan policy report,” said Darin Selnick, Taskforce Executive Director. “The Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 was a jumping off point in the fight to reform veterans’ health care, but it was just that—a beginning. This Summit is a continuation of the ongoing fight by Concerned Veterans for America, policymakers, and other stakeholders to bring necessary and needed reform to a sector that has long been plagued with inefficiencies and backlogs.”
The Summit will be free to attend and open to the general public and press. An RSVP is requested at vasummit.eventbrite.com.
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To schedule a TV interview with Pete Hegseth, Darin Selnick, or other CVA experts, please email booking@guestbooker.com. For other media inquiries, contact Emily Laird at elaird@cv4a.org.
Concerned Veterans for America is a non-partisan, non-profit, 501(c)(4) organization that advocates for policies that will preserve the freedom and liberty we and our families so proudly ought and sacrificed to defend.