[StBernard] Baker says Louisiana Vets 'lost in the shuffle' of hospital debate, urges quick decision

[Westley Annis]

The News from Congressman Richard H. Baker
Sixth District, Louisiana
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 22, 2007
CONTACT: Michael DiResto, 225-929-7711

Baker says Louisiana Vets 'lost in the shuffle' of hospital debate, urges quick decision

WASHINGTON – On a day that saw the Louisiana legislature approve initial, conditional funding for an LSU-VA health center collaborative, U.S. Rep. Richard Baker, R-Baton Rouge, a member of the House committee on Veterans Affairs, issued the following statement in response to a visit to Louisiana today by U.S. Veterans Secretary Jim Nicholson:

“In meetings I’ve had with Louisiana veterans groups over the past few weeks, they have all raised the same concern: that with the assortment of other benefits a collaborative is supposed to bring, and the delays that have come from trying to reach a deal to support those other benefits, the healthcare needs of Louisiana’s veterans seem to have been lost in the shuffle.  I agree, and I find the situation unacceptable.  Already reports are coming to my office of tremendous increases of veteran visits to outpatient clinics and community health centers, with the resulting confusion over records and payment.

“My primary concern is, and the primary mission of the Veterans Administration should be, acting as fast as possible to remedy this situation and create a central point of care for our veterans in southeast Louisiana.  Period.

“I have been supportive of the idea of facility collaboration from the standpoint of cost savings.  What I’ve found more troubling, however, is the impression that the new Veterans hospital has been transformed into the most essential crutch upon which to prop up all healthcare delivery and training as we know it in southeast Louisiana, and that the veterans themselves have been turned into pawns in a much bigger game.  If this extreme dependence on the federal Veterans department doesn’t point to something seriously wrong about the state of healthcare in Louisiana I don’t know what does.

“I have voiced my doubts about the safety and design of the proposed site currently being discussed, but I want to make it clear that I have no preference for the hospital’s location, be it in the New Orleans area or surrounding areas, so long as it is easily accessible to our southeast Louisiana veterans.  Congress, with the Veterans committee in the lead, has already approved funding for a new southeast Louisiana veterans hospital.  That money is essentially sitting on a shelf, and the longer it sits there, the longer it will take to provide for our veterans, and the greater the chance there is for that money to be lost, as efforts from outside Louisiana in the last few weeks demonstrate.

“I am grateful to Secretary Nicholson for his visit today and for his commitment to Louisiana’s veterans, including the department’s willingness to explore ‘other options’ for getting the hospital built.  If other potential partnerships show promise, be they with the private sector and with arrangements that accommodate medical training, I urge the Secretary not to let unrelated delays prolong action and, for the sake of the veterans, to make his decision quickly."

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