Casey Holds Joint Aging and Veterans’ Affairs Committee Hearing on Caregiving for Veterans
Casey: “One of the most important ways we can uphold our duty to support our veterans and their families is to ensure they’re being taken care of when they get home”
Washington, D.C. – Today, at a joint hearing of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging and Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) examined the vital care provided to American veterans by the Veterans’ Affairs (VA) caregiving support program and touted his efforts to ensure every veteran gets the care that they need. Casey has long led efforts in the Senate to make VA services more accessible, to invest in the caregiving workforce, and to broadly expand access to home care. At the hearing, entitled “Heroes at Home: Improving Services for Veterans and their Caregivers,” witnesses testified about the high quality caregiving that VA provides to millions of veterans in their homes and communities. The witnesses also spoke about how there is much more to be done to ensure every veteran who needs care can get it.
“One of the most important ways we can uphold our duty to support our veterans and their families is to ensure they’re being taken care of when they get home,” said Senator Casey. “We also need to learn our lessons from what the VA is doing well, which means ensuring that all who provide long-term care support and services, whether they are military or civilian, family members or direct care workers, are valued and compensated for their work.”
Senator Casey invited Peter Townsend, a resident of Susquehanna County, PA, to testify at the hearing. Peter served in the U.S. Army from 1982 to 1986, lives with multiple sclerosis, and receives caregiving support services through the VA. Peter testified about how helpful VA’s caregiving services have been to support him and his wife, but also about the need to update program eligibility standards and enrollment processes to ensure veterans are not being denied caregiving benefits.
Watch the full hearing here.
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