House OKs bill to expand healthcare for veterans in US terriories, COFA states
By Pacific Island Times News Staff
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act, which includes two provisions to expand access to healthcare for veterans living in U.S. territories and the freely associated states.
“On Veterans Day, I can think of no better way to honor our veterans than by taking action to improve the care and services available to them,” CNMI Del. Kimberlyn King-Hinds said, following the passage of H.R. 9237.
She authored the provisions related to healthcare for veterans in the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Palau, the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia.
The provisions, originally introduced as H.R. 3400, the TRAVEL Act, and H.R. 6652, the U.S. Vets of the FAS Act, address longstanding challenges facing veterans in the Pacific, where distance from Department of Veterans Affairs medical facilities can make it difficult to access timely and consistent care.
“Veterans who call the Pacific home should not have to travel thousands of miles or navigate unnecessary barriers to receive the health care they have earned,” King-Hinds said.
The tyranny of distance was among the concerns raised by the Government Accountability Office in its Sept. 25 report.
The report found that veterans living in the FAS must navigate a system that effectively requires them to leave their home islands for care, often traveling thousands of miles to VA facilities in Honolulu or Guam.
Because VA does not reimburse travel between the FAS and the United States, veterans shoulder the full cost of airfare—typically more than $1,000 round‑trip—just to access basic services.
“Geography should never determine whether a veteran can access the care they need,” King-Hinds said.
“I introduced these bills because our veterans in the CNMI and throughout the Pacific deserve meaningful access to quality care, regardless of where they live.”
Section 304 of H.R. 9237 incorporates H.R. 3400, the TRAVEL Act, which would authorize the VA to assign traveling physicians to serve for periods of up to one year in American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The provision is intended to help address gaps in access to VA health care in communities where veterans may otherwise need to travel long distances to receive medical services.
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Section 309 incorporates H.R. 6652, the U.S. Vets of the FAS Act, which would require the VA to formalize agreements with Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands – to expand health care services for eligible veterans.
These agreements would support services such as telehealth, mail-order prescriptions, and travel benefits. The provision also authorizes the VA to send clinical personnel to the freely associated states to provide care directly.
“Many of the veterans who served our country come from the same Pacific communities that have stood alongside the United States for generations,” King-Hinds added.
“Our relationship with the freely associated states is built on longstanding partnerships and shared sacrifices. We have a responsibility to make sure veterans who live in these communities are not left behind because of the distance between their homes and a VA medical center,” King-Hinds said.
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