| On July 18, 2013, Chairman Jeff Miller, of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, introduced H.R. 2726, the Long-Term Care Veterans Choice Act, to enhance and improve VA's existing Medical Foster Home (MFH) program. Established in 2000, a VA-certified MFH is a private residence where a VA-approved caregiver provides 24-hour support to eligible veterans. A VA-participant home cannot accept more than three veterans, and veterans are eligible for these placements when their care would otherwise need to be met in institutional settings. The MFH program is a humane alternative to nursing home placements. Health care for these residents is supervised in the home by VA's Home-Based Primary Care program or VA spinal cord injury home care program. Currently, the MFH program requires participating veterans to pay approximately $1,500 to $4,000 per month for this 24-hour caregiver supervision, including room and board. Even a veteran who is otherwise entitled to VA nursing home care at no expense must pay to reside in a VA-approved MFH. H.R. 2726 would authorize VA to enter into a contract or other agreement with a VA-certified MFH and would pay the full cost of this residential care of service-connected veterans if they are eligible for VA-funded nursing home care. Under this bill, as a component of such care, eligible veterans would also receive VA home health services at no cost. This is an important bill that would give priority to service-connected disabled veterans, and would give them an important alternative to nursing home care. DAV strongly supports this bill based on a long-standing national resolution approved by our members. Please use the prepared message, or draft your own personal one, to urge your Representative in Congress to co-sponsor and support passage of this important bill, and to ask that it be brought to the House floor for a vote and enacted as soon as possible. Thank you for all you do for veterans and their families, for your support of DAV, and for your active participation in DAV CAN. |
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