Sens. Collins, King Request Immediate Action to Keep Popular VA Program Running

Press Release

U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King today sent a letter to Acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs Sloan Gibson requesting that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) take immediate steps to continue the Access Received Closer to Home (ARCH) pilot program in fiscal year (FY) 2015. Congressional authorization of this program is set to expire at the end of September.

The Senate Appropriations Committee, of which Senator Collins is a member, recently approved its annual Veterans Affairs funding bill for FY 2015 that includes a provision authored by Senator Collins directing VA to continue the services provided by ARCH and providing $35 million for this purpose. The letter sent today by Senators Collins and King urges Acting Secretary Gibson to take immediate steps to continue the ARCH program given the inclusion of this directive in the Committee-passed bill.

Through ARCH, Veterans in northern Maine are able to access VA-covered specialty health care services at Cary Medical Center in Caribou -- one of five pilot sites that have been established across the country. The Togus VA Medical Center oversees treatment provided to Veterans at Cary, allowing them to receive quality care without traveling hundreds of miles roundtrip to Augusta.

Senators Collins and King previously wrote to former Secretary Eric Shinseki last December expressing their strong support for the ARCH program, and they joined Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) in introducing the Veterans Health Care Access Received Closer to Home Act of 2014 (S.2095), which would extend and expand ARCH.

The FY 2015 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill now awaits consideration by the full Senate.

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