The House passes comprehensive package to aid female veterans
By PVA National Staff
The House recently approved H.R. 3224, the Deborah Sampson Act, which addresses inequities and barriers that women veterans face when accessing VA care and benefits. H.R. 3224 is named after a Revolutionary War veteran, Deborah Sampson Gannett, who served in the Continental Army from 1782-1783 and was awarded a full military pension for her military service after years of petitioning Congress.
The measure encompasses 16 bills and reflects years of work and negotiation among stakeholders. The bills and a brief description of each are available here: https://juliabrownley.house.gov/brownleys-deborah-sampson-act-passes-house/.
As a result of PVA’s advocacy, the legislation includes a requirement for VA to report on an annual basis an assessment of wheelchair accessibility of VA women’s health centers. This assessment will include the accessibility of each kind of treatment provided at the center, including mammography. It will also address all other relevant factors, including door sizes, hoists, and equipment. PVA made this recommendation in response to concerns raised by PVA’s women veterans committee regarding specific accessibility barriers at these clinics.
We applaud the House for advancing this important legislation. You can view a section-by-section summary of it here. In the coming months, we will be working with their Senate counterparts to incorporate additional provisions in their version that help meet the needs of catastrophically disabled women veterans.
