U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly is hoping to protect veterans’ credit scores while making sure they get the proper health care.
While Donnelly praises the Veterans Choice Program, which allows veterans who live more than 40 miles away from a VA center to get medical treatment in their own communities, he says it also leads to some challenges. “Now, what we’re finding is sometimes the bills for that service from the doctor, that it can be sent to the wrong place or the VA doesn’t get it paid on time or there’s a dispute about the bill,” Donnelly says. “And we want to make sure that that doesn’t affect the veteran’s credit history at all.”
That’s where the Protecting Veterans Credit Act comes in. “What my bill does is it says that if any of these medical bills are put into collection, that the credit rating agencies cannot affect the veteran’s credit rating for at least one year from that time, and in that one year, they always get worked out,” he adds.
Donnelly hopes the legislation will move quickly through the Veterans’ Affairs Committee and head for a vote on the full floor of the U.S. Senate.
