HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Kansas U.S. Senator Jerry Moran introduced legislation on Wednesday to increase the reimbursement rate for veterans who must travel to receive medical care provided through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
From Moran's release:
The Veterans Medical Mileage Adjustment Act of 2022 would:
- Increase the VA mileage reimbursement rate from $0.415 to $0.455 per mile.
- Help cover the out-of-pocket expenses veterans and their caregivers incur when scheduled health care of medical disability examinations require them to travel more than seven miles, or more than 14 miles round trip.
- Incorporate the findings of the annual Internal Revenue Service study on transportation costs showing an increase in fuel, insurance, maintenance, depreciation and other costs to lessen the burden on veterans and caregivers.
- Apply the increase to any veteran or caregiver currently eligible for the Beneficiary Travel reimbursement benefit for travel that occurs after enactment of the Veterans Medical Mileage Adjustment Act of 2022.
According to Jeff Herndon with the Dole VA Medical Center in Wichita, For Fiscal Year 2022 (October 2021 to present), Dole VA has processed a total of 46,115 travel claims. This number represents claims only, not a total of individual Veterans filing a claim. One Veteran could have filed multiple claims in this fiscal year.
Of those claims, 4,441 have been processed for Veterans living in zip codes in Reno County.