State lawmakers take up veterans' cause.

In state capitals across the country women legislators are making impassioned speeches and introducing resolutions aimed at building support for veterans health care and benefits. If this seems unusual, well it is and it isn't, according to Robin Read, president and CEO of the National Foundation for Women Legislators (NFWL).

"Elected women are very big supporters of the military and our veterans. Their fathers, husbands, sons, and now daughters, are involved in the armed forces, and we need to support them," said Ms. Read, whose husband was killed in the Vietnam War.

Today, women hold a record number of state and federal posts, according to Ms. Read. Indeed. 1,645 women serve in state legislatures across the United States. That is more than a five-fold increase since 1969 when just 301 women served at the state level.

She noted that dozens of women chair the health care committees in their state legislatures, and women help shape the agenda of the health care committees in the U.S. Congress, as well.

"It is vital that state lawmakers understand how important it is for the federal government to adequately fund veterans health care and other services provided through the VA," said DAV National Legislative Director Joseph A. Violante. "The DAV has been pleased to work with the NFWL as a resource to help its members have a better understanding of the issues that affect veterans In their states."

Among those issues is the need to guarantee full federal funding for veterans health care. "Like most people, state lawmakers have just assumed that the federal government takes care of our sick and disabled veterans," said state Representative Dottie J. Sims of Kentucky, who co-chairs the NFWL policy committee oft military and veterans with Mr. Violante. "However, it is becoming increasingly clear to them that chronic Minding shortages have left the VA health care system in crisis."

Because of their increasing concern for veterans, some state legislatures have begun to consider how they can help make a difference. One way is through passing legislative resolutions, railed memorials, urging Congress to enact guaranteed funding for the VA health care system. "The message state lawmakers are sending to Washington with these resolutions is clear, the VA must have adequate resources so that veterans will have timely access to needed medical care. A reliable funding stream will enable the VA to plan for and meet the future health care needs of our veterans," said Mr. Violante.

"When veterans can't get needed health care from the VA, they have to go elsewhere, and the cost of their rare is shifted to state welfare and Medicaid programs or other safety net hospitals," said Mr. Violante. Many states have had to make serious cuts in their Medicaid systems because of budget shortfalls of their own. If significant numbers of veterans are forced out of the VA onto state health care rolls, the situation would be that much worse.

"It is vital that DAV members reach out to their state lawmakers and seek their support on guaranteed funding for veterans health care and other important issues," said Mr. Violante. "The more allies we have, the better when it comes to convincing Congress and the Administration to provide the VA with adequate resources to ensure that service-connected disabled veterans have timely access to much-needed medical care."