Letter to The Honorable James B. Peake, Secretary, Department of Veterans Affairs

Letter

Snowe Calls for Increased Travel Reimbursement Rate for Disabled Veterans

U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) today announced that she has signed onto a bipartisan letter to Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary James B. Peake, requesting an increase in the travel reimbursement rate for disabled veterans to 41.5 cents per mile.

"As our troubled economy continues to squeeze veterans living on fixed incomes, expenses like healthcare and gas money are being scrimped in favor of groceries and home heating costs," Senator Snowe said. "By raising the mileage reimbursement rate for disabled veterans traveling to VA facilities, we can help these rural veterans receive the medical care they need while alleviating burdensome travel costs. Our nation's veterans deserve no less and I call on the VA to enact this Congressional mandate as soon as possible."

As part of the 2009 Appropriations conference report issued earlier this year, Congress allotted $133 million of the funds provided for Veterans Medical Services to be used to increase the travel reimbursement rate for disabled veterans.

The text of the letter is below:

October 27, 2008

The Honorable James B. Peake
Secretary
Department of Veterans Affairs
810 Vermont Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20420

Dear Mr. Secretary:

We write to encourage you implement the Congressionally-mandated increase in the travel reimbursement rate for disabled veterans at the earliest possible date. We are very grateful for your past support of increasing the travel reimbursement rate to 28.5 cents per mile. We greatly appreciate your continued commitment to improving the quality of VA services to rural veterans, whose service and sacrifice is every bit as honorable to their urban peers, but who often do not receive the same quality of care at the VA.

As you know, Division E of the conference report accompanying the Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations
Act, 2009 (P.L. 110-329) specifies that $133 million of the funds provided for Veterans Medical Services should be used to increase the travel reimbursement rate for disabled veterans to 41.5 cents per mile.

Although fuel prices have fallen from their record highs of this summer, transportation costs still represent an enormous expense for veterans in rural areas who live far from VA facilities. Disabled veterans who depend on a fixed income have been hit particularly hard by continued high fuel costs. Indeed, several studies have demonstrated that veterans in rural areas are more likely to be in worse health than their urban counterparts because of greater difficulty in accessing health care.

We hope that you will implement this Congressional mandate as soon as possible, and we look forward to continuing our shared efforts to improve the VA.

Thank you very much for your attention to this request. Please do not hesitate to contact any of us to discuss this matter further.

Sincerely,

Senator Tester
Senator Snowe
Senator Akaka
Senator Enzi
Senator Baucus
Senator Salazar
Senator Thune
Senator Sanders
Senator Rockefeller
Senator Brown