Wicked Local: With Obama's Signature, Moulton's Faster Care for Veterans bill Becomes Law

On Friday, President Barack Obama signed a bipartisan bill, Faster Care for Veterans Act, sponsored by Congressman Seth Moulton, D-Salem that aims at cutting down on veterans' wait times to get in front of medical doctors.

It is the first piece of legislation authored by Moulton to become law. The president's signature came less than two weeks after complementary bills in both chambers of Congress passed. The bill most recently passed in the Senate by unanimous vote on Saturday.

With the president's signature, the secretary of Veterans Affairs will now develop and run a pilot program that allows veterans to self-schedule their Veterans Administration appointments via apps on their phones and from their computers.

"I've heard from thousands of veterans across the country that this will make a major difference," said Moulton Friday afternoon. "Improving veteran services is one of my top priorities."

Moulton, a U.S. Marine veteran who served four tours in the Iraq War over five years, sponsored the bill with his House colleague Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Washington Democrat. Sens. Joni Ernst, an Iowan Republican, and Amy Kloubuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, introduced a facsimile Senate bill in the pairs' stead.

"I thank my colleagues for putting country over politics to make a difference for our veterans," said Moulton. "Our veterans deserve the best health care in the world, but for far too long, they have been underserved by outdated systems that make it hard to simply schedule an appointment."

Sponsors of the bill - and now law - have framed the pilot program as marrying 21st century self-scheduling technology in the private sector with VA healthcare. A 2014 Department of Veterans Affairs audit revealed over 120,000 veterans either waited up to 90 days to confirm appointments or never received one altogether, according to Moulton's bill. In contrast, the bill also goes on to note, civilians' average wait time for an appointment comes in at 18 days.

Moulton and McMorris pointed out in a past Stars and Stripes interview that the VA intended to spend $624 million to replace its existing scheduling system, created in the 1980s.

In February, Moulton posted a time-lapsed video on his Facebook page showing North Shore Army veteran Dennis Magnasco's four-hour attempt to lock in a VA appointment over the phone. The video immediately went viral, fetching 1 million views and 27,000 shares and bringing attention to Moulton's filed bill. Since the video was first posted, it has been viewed nearly 1.5 million times, and has garnered over 35,000 shares and received thousands of comments of support.

"Excessive wait times can put veterans' lives at risk, but state-of-the art technology that makes it easier to schedule appointments already exists and is being used in other hospital systems," said Klobuchar. "Our veterans have earned the right to use the same technology to schedule their medical appointments without unnecessary red tape and delays."