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| 1 | | HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION
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| 2 | | WHEREAS, The purpose of the Veteran's Administration is, in |
| 3 | | the words of Abraham Lincoln, "To care for
him who shall have |
| 4 | | borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan"; and
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| 5 | | WHEREAS, The Veterans Administration provides health care |
| 6 | | to many veterans through its 1,250 health care
facilities, |
| 7 | | including 172 VA Medical Centers and 1,069 outpatient sites; |
| 8 | | and
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| 9 | | WHEREAS, After serving our country, our veterans have |
| 10 | | earned the very best healthcare possible, something
the |
| 11 | | Veteran's Administrations has pledged to provide; and
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| 12 | | WHEREAS, Despite providing various types of healthcare to |
| 13 | | over nine million veterans, the Veteran's Health
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| 14 | | Administration (VHA) fails to provide dental care to most of |
| 15 | | those veterans; and
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| 16 | | WHEREAS, According to the VHA's own statistics, while over |
| 17 | | nine million veterans are eligible for healthcare
under the |
| 18 | | VHA, only about 500,000, or 5.6%, of those are receiving dental |
| 19 | | care, as the qualifications to receive full dental care require |
| 20 | | that a
veteran be 100% disabled or have been a POW; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, While veterans are able to purchase dental |
| 2 | | insurance through the VA Dental Insurance Program
(VADIP), it |
| 3 | | is not an affordable option, leaving veterans with no other |
| 4 | | choice but to live with rotted
teeth and other signs of a lack |
| 5 | | of dental care; and
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| 6 | | WHEREAS, Dental health has been proven to affect other |
| 7 | | aspects of health, and poor dental care is associated with |
| 8 | | pancreatic cancer, Alzheimer's,
diabetes, and heart disease; |
| 9 | | good dental care can prevent many serious health issues and |
| 10 | | would allow the VA to save money by eliminating the cost of |
| 11 | | treating future diseases; and
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| 12 | | WHEREAS, According to the 2016 Oral Health in Illinois |
| 13 | | Report, in 2015, over one third of adults in Illinois
(36%) |
| 14 | | reported not having visited the dentist in the past year, with |
| 15 | | lack of insurance being one of the barriers to
dental care; and
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| 16 | | WHEREAS, H.R. 96 introduced by U.S. Rep. Julia Brownley |
| 17 | | would amend Title 38, USC, to require the
Veteran's |
| 18 | | Administration to furnish dental care in the same manner as any |
| 19 | | other medical service, giving more
veterans access to the full |
| 20 | | dental care that they severely need; therefore, be it
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| 21 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE |
| 22 | | HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE |
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| 1 | | SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that we recognize the right of all |
| 2 | | veterans to have full coverage for dental care; and be it |
| 3 | | further
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| 4 | | RESOLVED, That we urge the Illinois
Congressional |
| 5 | | Delegation to co-sponsor H.R. 96 and support it in any manner |
| 6 | | possible to ensure
that our veterans receive the proper and |
| 7 | | sufficient dental care that they deserve; and be it further
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| 8 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be |
| 9 | | delivered to all members of the Illinois Congressional |
| 10 | | Delegation.
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