Proposed House Resolution would protect health care rights for veterans

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Veterans are rallying to protect their rights. A new state House resolution pushes to make sure veterans throughout North Carolina get the health care they need.

Representative Holly Grange, a veteran herself, introduced House Resolution 550.

Grange hosted a rally Friday along with the Concerned Veterans for America to explain how the resolution aims to protect health care for veterans.

“If you take anything away from it, you’re putting lives in jeopardy,” Veteran Chaz Ivy said.

Ivy says he knows firsthand how vital health care is.

In 2018, the VA Mission Act gave veterans more health care options and protected certain benefits. Ivy and other veterans want to keep things this way.

“America is a country built on choice and taking responsibility for oneself and making decisions,” said John Byrnes, who is with the CVA. “We think the veterans who served our country should have the most amount of decisions possible inside their own health care.”

“It’s in support of the VA Mission Act as it has been enacted into law,” Grange said. “It discourages rolling back any of the provisions.”

With the act, Grange says veterans have more health care options than just the VA. They are also able to get specialty care they need.

She says this resolution will help prevent Congress from taking away any of these benefits.

Ivy says that in North Carolina alone, the number of veterans is growing quickly.

“We earned this right to have proper health care, and I think it’s very important for us to get the treatment we need, and also for fellow veterans that have sacrificed a lot more than other veterans to get the health care they need,” Ivy said.

Grange says the VA Mission Act allows veterans to get health care closer to home, instead of heaving to go all the way to a VA facility.

She says the resolution has to go through a few committees first before going to the House floor.