Garrett Fights for US Veterans and Their Families
Offers Legislation to Aid Vets with Prescription Drugs and Burial Costs
Washington,
Nov 9, 2007 -
Today, US Representative Scott Garrett (NJ-5) once again stood on behalf of our nation’s veterans, offering two pieces of legislation, one to expand the federal burial benefit to assist veterans buried in state veteran’s cemeteries and one to allow veterans to have prescriptions from their private doctors filled by the Veterans Health Administration.
The veteran’s cemetery legislation enables veterans to receive burial benefits to cover the veteran’s spouse and other eligible dependents when buried in state veteran’s cemeteries. Currently, burial benefits are available for a veteran when he or she is buried in either a federal or state veteran’s cemetery. A veterans’ spouse and dependents are eligible for benefits only when they are buried with the veteran in a federal cemetery. This disparity forces the veterans’ family to bear the burden of financing the burial on its own if they want to keep the family together in a state cemetery. Given that state veterans cemetery space is more abundant than federal veterans cemetery space and that federal cemeteries are often more regional and less convenient to remote areas of the country, families are frequently left without real options.
In introducing this legislation, Rep. Garrett stated:
“In the coming year, our nation will lay to rest millions of military personnel who have risked their lives for our nation and beliefs. The families of these brave individuals should be able to choose their burial based on location, convenience, and peace of mind, not economics. This legislation is a commonsense approach to supporting our veterans and providing them with the best burial options possible.”
Rep. Garrett’s second bill enables veterans to have their medical prescriptions from their private doctors filled by the Veterans Health Administration. “After all the sacrifices our veterans have made, we shouldn’t make them wind through a maze to get the medical care they need,” said Garrett. “If a private doctor prescribes medication for a veteran, that vet should be able to fill it using the veterans benefits he or she has earned.”
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