Todays news from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.): Doc Shortage Cited in VA Delays: An acute shortage of primary care doctors is behind delays at some hospitals and clinics run by the Department of Veterans Affairs. “The problem facing the VA in terms of not having the number of primary care doctors and nurses it needs is part of a national crisis,” Sen. Bernard Sanders, the Senate veterans committee chairman, told The New York Times. He will offer legislation to let VA patients who can’t get appointments go to community health centers, military hospitals or private doctors. He also wants to provide medical school scholarships and loan forgiveness as incentives to attract more physicians and nurses to careers at the VA. VA Health Centers: Veterans returning from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are overwhelming underfunded VA facilities in the Southwest and South, Sen. Sanders told The New York Times. VA has set a goal of seeing patients within 14 days. “Do we have the staffing to achieve that goal?” Sanders asked. “In some parts of the country, clearly we do not.” As part of the solution, Sanders’ bill also would fund construction of 27 new VA health facilities, The Hill reported. Vermont Yankee: A decision by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week not to endorse the transfer of spent nuclear fuel from pools to dry cask storage won’t have an effect on the anticipated transfer of the highly radioactive fuel at Vermont Yankee. Vermont Department of Public Service Commissioner Christopher Recchia said Entergy Nuclear already committed to move Yankee’s 3,000 spent fuel rods into casks. The decision by the NRC was protested by Sen. Sanders, who this month introduced legislation to require the removal of spent fuel to dry casks, the Rutland Herald and Times Argus reported. Save Social Security: Sanders has advocated for years that the fairest approach to making Social Security fully solvent for the next 50 years is to lift the cap on taxable income, and apply the Social Security payroll tax on income above $250,000. “We’re inclined to agree with Sanders,” the Brattleboro Reformer said in an editorial on Friday. Continue reading here: sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/newswatch/053014
Posted on: Fri, 30 May 2014 11:27:59 +0000
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