Tester and Elnahal talk PACT Act, veteran care in Montana

Montana Sen. Jon Tester held a press call Friday along with U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Under Secretary for Health Dr. Shereef Elnahal after meetings with Montana veterans about improving care in the state.

Tester said Elnahal is the first Senate-confirmed person in that position in a very long time and he's been doing excellent work so far.

Among the issues Tester discussed was the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics or PACT Act, which he said has opened the door for thousands of veterans to get improved care through the VA for toxic exposure.

He said the bill is long-overdue and will help the almost two thirds of veterans in the U.S. that may have been exposed to some kind of hazardous material during their time serving.

However, he said, in order to administer all of the tests and care needed the department will need to increase hiring, improve its claims process and open new clinics, which is what the department is hoping to do in Montana and across the U.S.

Tester also said they need to make serious improvements to mental health care a suicide prevention, which especially vital for Montana veterans.

"We need an all-hands-on-deck approach to address this as a systemic and societal issue," he said.

Elnahal also spoke, saying the meetings he's had in Montana have been informative and helped him understand the unique challenges that the massive number of Montana veterans that live in rural areas face.

"The task ahead of us is a big one, but we are not mincing words when we say that we are reaching out and trying to get every single eligible veteran into our system and into care as soon as possible," he said.

He said 60 percent of Montana veterans live too far away from a VA clinic for the department to care for them with the standards they want to see, so they will be looking at ways to improve transportation and telehealth offerings as well.

Tester said that will require a significant investment in improving the state's broadband.

Elnahal said the PACT Act is sure to increase demands for care and screenings, so hiring is their number one priority at the moment with 170,000 claims already filed.

However, he said, based on their estimates of the number of people potentially affected by toxic exposure that number is actually very low with many more eligible, so he encouraged anyone with a veteran in their life to tell them about the PACT Act and see if they need to make use of it.

"We need more people to apply, because we know that number is low," he said.

After talking about their meetings and the VA's plans, the two also took questions from the press including whether they supported the push by Republicans, along with some Democrats, to repeal the military's universal COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Neither answered yes or no directly, with Tester instead saying Congress should listen to military leadership.

"If it impacts our readiness it's a stupid thing to do, if it doesn't impact our readiness then there's no reason to have it," Tester said.

In recent weeks Pentagon officials have expressed significant concerns about repealing the mandate, fearing that doing so would increase the chances of service people contracting the virus which, while much less deadly than in the early days of the pandemic, can still cause long-lasting effects on a person's health, thus decreasing their readiness.

Elnahal said vaccines are an incredibly effective tool for preventing illness and he supports them generally.

The two were also asked about ongoing arguments in congress over the coming year's funding bill and whether a delay in passing the bill will affect the implementation of the PACT Act.

Tester said the prospect of a shutdown would definitely have an effect on implementing not only the PACT Act but the manufacturing of the things the military needs and affecting national security.

Elnahal said Tester was absolutely correct.