ICYMI: BROWN RAISES OHIOANS' CONCERNS WITH SEC. MCDONOUGH AT SENATE VETERANS' AFFAIRS COMMITTEE HEARING

Press Release

Excerpts from Brown's hearing exchange is included below:

Brown: A Vet named Daniel shared his story and outlined his health complications. It was painful to watch. He is wheelchair bound, he was very healthy when entered to the service. He was exposed to burn pits. He has immense pain, oxygen full time from a rare lung disease. He shared that story, he said he and his wife had been denied the high tier for the caregiver's program. What do you say to somebody like Daniel and his wife, who puts her whole heart into caregiving, and other veterans like that who have been denied the expanded caregivers benefits or have been denied and put into a lower tier, what do you say to them?

Sec. McDonough: I've been talking to many of you all about the care givers program and my sense is that you didn't pass the caregivers program so that 80% of applicants would be denied. So, I've given guidance to our team that, that's got to change. So, we're looking at regulation to figure out how we do that. And I'd also say that we are looking by virtue of our toxic exposure work, we are looking at rare respiratory cancers and rare lung diseases for our next round of presumptives.

Source