President George W. Bush reacts to the response of the audience before speaking to the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Cincinnati, Ohio, Monday, Aug. 16, 2004.
Honoring Our Commitment to Americas Veterans
President Bush is committed to our Nation's veterans, and has proposed unprecedented levels of funding for veterans. His Fiscal Year (FY) 2005 budget represents an increase in overall funding for our Nation's veterans by almost $20 billion or 40 percent since 2001. The President has increased funding for our veterans more in four years than funding was increased in the previous eight years. The FY 2005 budget includes a 41 percent funding increase in veterans' medical care spending alone since FY 2001.
The President also supports tomorrow's veterans and their families. In 2003, President Bush requested $87 billion in supplemental funding from Congress to help ensure that the American military fighting the War on Terror has the resources, including body armor and other vital equipment, to accomplish their mission. Since 2001, the President's budgets have provided an increase in basic pay for men and women in uniform by almost 21 percent, improved military housing for families living on base, and reduced to zero the average housing expenses for military families living off base.
Honoring Today's Veterans
President Bush is committed to honoring America 's veterans who have sacrificed so much for our Nation. Under President Bush's leadership, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has dramatically improved health care services and the disability claims process. The President also kept his promise to reduce the claims backlog and waiting times to receive medical treatment, thereby ending the bureaucracy, delays, and unfair denials that were occurring when he took office. President Bush's VA medical care budget requests enable the VA to meet its core medical mission to serve those highest priority veterans, including low-income veterans, those with service-related disabilities, and those who need VA's specialized services. The President also honors the families of veterans and military retirees who have made tremendous sacrifices for our country.
Improving Access to Health Care for Veterans
Increased Health Care Service to Veterans: Since 2001, President Bush's budget requests have allowed the VA to enroll 2.5 million more veterans in health care services, increase outpatient visits from 44 million to 54 million, and increase the number of prescriptions filled from 98 million in 2001 to 116 million as of August 2004. Under the President's leadership, 194 new community-based clinics have been opened since 2001 and are now available for veterans.
Additional Prescription Drug Coverage: Last year, President Bush took the unprecedented step of allowing veterans waiting for a medical appointment who already had a prescription from their private physician, to get those prescriptions filled by the VA saving veterans hundreds of dollars in drug costs.
CARES (Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services): President Bush is seeking to modernize VA facilities and provide more care to more veterans in more places, where veterans need it the most. He has committed $1.5 billion in the FY 2004 and FY 2005 budgets, and additional funding will be requested in the future to increase outpatient health care services for veterans, build new hospitals, and replace outdated, pre-World War II facilities. The VA is working to better distribute its network of clinics and hospitals, so the vast majority of veterans are within 30 miles of a VA community-based outpatient clinic or similar facility.
Expands Access to Long-Term Care in the Most Non-Intrusive Settings: President Bush's FY 2005 budget request continues to expand long-term care for veterans through VA facilities, private and state facilities, and non-institutional care programs that allow veterans to live and be cared for near or in the comfort and familiar settings of their homes surrounded by their families.