Article archive / September 2022
Originally published: . Volume 13, No. 9. Source pages: 3.
According to press release last month, the U.S. House of Representatives advanced Congressman Garret Graves’ legislation to expand and improve Veterans health care in the Greater Baton Rouge area, and south Louisiana. The legislation is expected to be signed into law within weeks. The Baton Rouge VA clinic has been identified by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs as one of the nation’s most urgently needed facility expansions due to limited space and separate buildings at the current Essen Lane location. The VA clinic has been unable to expand due to outdated bureaucrat budget restrictions over lease restrictions and deferred improvements, which ultimately denies Veterans the care they’ve earned. Graves’ legislation would kickstart the urgent VA relocation process, which they were otherwise prohibited to do. “Veterans in Baton Rouge and south Louisiana deserve medical care equal to their bravery. The cramped and jammed conditions of the current VA Clinic in Baton Rouge hamper the caregivers and deny the best we can offer our Veterans," Graves said. “Veterans across the US suffer due unnecessary, inexplicable bureaucracy. […] "It’s more like Veterans paying for ridiculous calculator gymnastics instead of focusing on getting their best care. It shouldn’t take an Act of Congress to get veterans the care they’ve earned and deserve.”
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