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WASHINGTON – Continuing his commitment to military personnel who have sustained Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-8) today voted in support of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2010, which passed by a vote of 281-to-146.
The legislation’s companion House report includes provisions written by the congressman that advance Purple Heart eligibility for service members who have sustained TBI as a result of combat, as well as measures that provide for the study and care of the condition. Those provisions will go into effect upon the president’s signing the into law.
“We need to be aggressively diligent in out understanding of this condition that has affected so many people in uniform who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan,” said Pascrell, a co-chair of the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force and a longtime advocate for the treatment, care and research of TBI. “Those who have sustained this injury deserve our respect and gratitude through the award of a Purple Heart. They also deserve our dedication to their care and the study of how they can be rehabilitated to living the fullest life possible.”
Citing reported inconsistencies with regard to the awarding of the Purple Heart as it relates to TBI, the congressman submitted language included in the National Defense Authorization Act’s House report that calls upon the Secretary of Defense to review the department’s policies and procedures for determining eligibility and awarding of the Purple Heart. While personnel sustaining severe TBI are likely to receive the Purple Heart award, those with less severe TBI are often refused even though their condition could worsen over a longer time period.
In order to advance the study of TBI, the congressman advocated for the armed services to begin documenting troops’ exposure to blasts in their personnel records, as the Army National Guard has already done. As described in the House report, the compiled data will also help determine services members’ eligibility for appropriate treatment, care and disability entitlements.
The National Defense Authorization Act also includes a pilot program that would expand access for medically retired soldiers with TBI to cognitive rehabilitation therapy. Currently, the therapy is not a covered benefit under TRICARE, the Department of Defense’s health care program for members of the uniformed services, their families, and survivors and retired service members. More than 19,000 medically retired solders need this care to recover meaning and productive lives.
Last year, Congressman Pascrell orchestrated a letter signed by over 65 House members to Secretary Gates urging TRICARE coverage of cognitive rehabilitation.
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