Minnesota U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar has long been a strong proponent of securing benefits for veterans. She recently introduced legislation to improve the Veteran Suicide Crisis Line. According to the Veteran’s Administration 20 veterans take their lives each day in this country.
On November 17, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar announced that legislation she cosponsored to improve the Veteran Suicide Crisis Line (VCL) has passed the Senate and now heads to the president’s desk to be signed into law.
The VCL is a toll-free number that provides confidential support to veterans and their family members 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Recently published emails from the former director of the VCL revealed that more than one-third of the calls in the VCL roll over to back call centers where staff do not have the expertise or training to handle veterans in crisis. The bipartisan No Veterans Crisis Line Call Should Go Unanswered Act would require the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to develop a quality assurance plan to identify performance metrics and objectives to improve the effectiveness of the VCL. The legislation would also require the VA to develop a plan to ensure that each call to the VCL is answered in a timely fashion.
“Our veterans have proudly served our country on the front lines, and sadly, many return home with the invisible wounds of war. For these veterans, access to mental health care and support is critical,” Klobuchar said. “The least they deserve is not to be forced to wait at the end of the line during their darkest hours. While there is still more work to do to improve the services that veterans rely on, today’s action is a step forward in delivering the suicide prevention and mental health care treatment they deserve.”
The Senate bill was introduced by Senator John Thune (R-SD). The House bill, which passed earlier this year, was introduced by Representative David Young (R-IA). Klobuchar has been a leader in the fight to improve mental health care for our nation’s soldiers. Last year, legislation she cosponsored to help prevent veteran suicides was signed into law by the president. The Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act helps expand access to mental health services for veterans by establishing a loan repayment program to help the VA recruit more psychiatric specialists, enhances resources for veterans transitioning into civilian life, and improves the VA’s ability to address traumatic brain injuries.
Klobuchar also introduced the Service Member Mental Health Review Act in 2013 to help veterans who may have been discharged with improper mental health diagnoses get their records corrected and their benefits restored. In June, Klobuchar and Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) introduced a bipartisan bill that would establish a patient self-scheduling appointment system at Veterans Affairs medical facilities. The bipartisan Faster Care for Veterans Act would direct the secretary of the VA to commence a pilot program under which veterans could use the Internet to schedule and confirm appointments for health care at VA medical facilities.
Leave a Reply