Sens. McCain and Rubio, Former Speaker Gingrich to Address Fixing Veterans Health Care Summit
Speakers will React to CVA’s Bipartisan Taskforce Report, Set the Tone for Additional VA Reforms in 114th Congress
Arlington, Va. – Today, Concerned Veterans for America (CVA) announced the addition of Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) as well as former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich to the growing list of prominent lawmakers and policy experts set to headline the Fixing Veterans Health Care Summit and react to the findings of CVA’s bipartisan Taskforce report which will be released at the event on Feb. 26 in Washington, D.C.
Additional high profile participants are expected to be announced next week.
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 to develop a veteran-centric, expert-driven set of realistic policy proposals meant to dramatically improve health care delivery for veterans.
“As we work to finalize our report, the addition of Senators McCain and Rubio and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich to our list of presenters at the Summit is a testament to the serious approach the Taskforce took to suggesting reforms on how veterans’ health care can best be delivered in the 21st Century,” said Darin Selnick, Executive Director of CVA’s Fixing Veterans Health Care Taskforce. “These three men played key roles in formulating and passing key reforms to the troubled VA last year and we look forward to hearing them discuss these issues before an audience of others who share our interest in bringing necessary reforms to a VA health care system that too often fails to meet the modern-day needs of our nation’s veterans.”
In addition to lawmakers’ growing interest in speaking, RSVPs to attend have also been encouraging. The event sold out in the first two weeks since the initial announcement, so a larger room was secured to accommodate another 200 attendees. Tickets will go fast so RSVP today. Free live streaming of the event will also be made available.
Senator John McCain has been a true champion for reforming the VA and a longtime advocate of providing veterans with private sector choice when it comes to their health care needs. He worked tirelessly to ensure the choice provision was included in the final VA reform bill that overwhelmingly passed Congress in 2014. Without his leadership and steadfast commitment, the bill would have never made it out of conference and to President Obama’s desk for signature.
Senator Marco Rubio has been an early and outspoken advocate of bringing long-overdue accountability to the Department of Veterans Affairs and was the lead Senate sponsor for the VA Management Accountability Act in 2014, which served as the basis for many of the important reform and accountability provisions included in the final compromise bill the president enacted.
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has been consulted by the Taskforce multiple times on the topic of health care technology and the benefits modernization can provide to veterans. His work to leverage advances in health care technology – like smart phone apps that have been embraced by the private sector – and applying other lessons learned from modern health design have been invaluable to the formulation of the Taskforce’s findings.
Other speakers include Rep. Jeff Miller (R-FL), Chairman, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), U.S. House Majority Leader, as well as taskforce co-chairs Dr. Bill Frist (R-TN), Rep. Jim Marshall (D-GA), Dr. Mike Kussman, and Avik Roy. Additionally, Taskforce Executive Director Darin Selnick and CVA CEO Pete Hegseth will be delivering remarks.
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To schedule a TV interview with Darin Selnick or other CVA experts, please email booking@guestbooker.com. For other media inquiries, contact Emily Laird at 571.302.0973 or email 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 fought and sacrificed to defend.