Obama pointing to strides in veterans' health care
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is touting strides in reducing homelessness among military veterans as his administration reaches the halfway point in building a massive database on veterans' health.
Credit also goes to first lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden's wife, Jill, for using their initiative on military families to challenge mayors and county officials nationwide to end veterans' homelessness, the White House says.
A half-million veterans have voluntarily given blood samples and health data for a long-term government research program that seeks to enroll 1 million veterans as part of an Obama initiative to make "precision medicine," or tailored treatment, a reality.
Care for America's veterans is a top issue in the presidential campaign, with the nearly 21 million veterans in the U.S. making up a critical voting bloc.
Trump has proposed allowing veterans eligible for VA health care to take their ID cards to any doctor or facility that accepts Medicare to get immediate care.
The health care side "remains to be fixed," Augustine said, and noted the recent conclusion by a congressionally mandated commission that the department continues to have "profound deficiencies" in delivering health care to millions of veterans.