Noteboom The Law Firm

New VA Bill to Benefit Female Veterans Seeking VA Care

April 29, 2010 - Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) introduced the Women Veterans Health Improvement Act of 2009 bill and it recently passed the Senate and House of Representatives. The bill focuses on female veterans' distinctive needs and prepares the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for the flood of female veterans that will demand VA care in the future.

Female veterans are presenting challenges to the VA not only in record numbers but in need. Both their visible and invisible wounds may require different treatments than how the their male counterpoints are treated.

Women veterans are not a new phenomenon and they deserve the same level of health care as every other veteran. The bill does much more than just ensuring VA health care for female veterans. The bill also lays out how the VA health care must change in order to accommodate the specialized needs of female veterans.

The Women Veterans' Health Improvement Act will:  

• Require the VA to develop a program to care for female veterans suffering from sexual trauma;
• Require the VA to evaluate all the obstacles female veterans face in obtaining care from the VA;
• Require the VA to offer a counseling program providing transition counseling in group settings;
• Require the VA to offer child care for those female veterans seeking VA mental health care; and
• Authorize the VA to report to Congress the physical and mental effects female veterans suffer as a result of deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan.

 It is expected President Obama will sign this bill into law some time next week. Once it is law, change will follow for the benefit of every female veteran who has served her country.