Sweeping Veterans' Mental Health Legislation

Week of October 04, 2008

S. 2162, the Veterans Mental Health and Other Care Improvements Act of 2008, passed the Senate today by unanimous consent.  The bill makes various improvements to veterans' mental health care and other forms of health care, and is a tribute to Iraq war veteran Justin Bailey. S. 2162's improvements to veterans' mental health care include: doubles the beneficiary travel mileage reimbursement for rural vets, corrects current procedures used by VA to reimburse community hospitals for emergency care, requires a pain care program for all VA inpatient facilities for long-term mental health and substance abuse care, and requires a review of VA facilities to ensure that they are up to par for female veterans. Learn more about the bill on Military.com.