Washington – Reacting to shabby treatment of wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the House on Wednesday created a coterie of case managers, advocates and counselors for injured troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Wounded Warrior Assistance Act, approved 426-0, also establishes a hotline for medical patients to report problems in their treatment and demands an end to the red tape that has frustrated disabled service members as they move from Pentagon to Veterans Affairs Department care.
The bill would affect some of the more than 25,000 U.S. service members wounded in hostile action since military operations began in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“We cannot allow those who have fought our foreign enemies in the defense of freedom to come home and fight the federal bureaucracy to get the health care they need,” said Rep. Candice Miller, R-Mich., a member of the Armed Services Committee.
The White House, in a statement, said that while those goals were commendable, the legislation is premature. It suggested that Congress wait for a report from a presidential commission and a task force on the war- wounded created after the exposure of poor outpatient living conditions and treatment at Walter Reed. Those findings are expected by the end of July.
The bill requires Senate action before it goes to the president.
