Improving health care access for veterans and military retirees remains one of Sen. Jerry Moran’s top priorities.
Moran, the junior U.S. senator from Kansas, was in Iola Tuesday as part of a town hall meeting hosted by the Iola Kiwanis Club.
Moran is up for re-election, apparently without opposition, in November. As of this morning, no other candidate had filed to oppose him. (The filing deadline was noon.)
There, he spoke on a number of issues, ranging from the Zika virus to the upcoming presidential campaign with presumptive nominees Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
Moran started his 45-minute discussion by talking about recent changes to allow veterans health care access in isolated parts of the state. Moran was an advocate of outreach clinics for those unable to easily make it to Veterans Affairs hospitals in Topeka, Wichita or Denver (for those in the western regions of the state).
“It’s been my goal a long time to get the VA to allow our veterans to access health care in their home towns, if that’s what they want,” Moran said. “As of two years ago, if you’re a veteran more than 40 miles from a VA facility, or you can’t get the service you need from VA within 30 days, the VA must provide those services you want at home.”
And while the effort has been well received locally, VA officials have resisted, Moran contends.
“The VA really doesn’t like this law,” he said. “And they’ve been implementing it in ways that make it very difficult for it to work.”
MORAN fielded several questions from the audience of about 35, including:
Campaign 2016
Moran offered tepid, at best, support of the presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, saying he will support him if, as expected, Trump’s opponent is Hillary Clinton.
“I don’t understand many of the things I see Donald Trump says,” Moran said. “I don’t know why he says them,” in particular his disparaging comments about Sen. John McCain and other POWs.
“My impression in visiting with Kansans is there’s a lot of dissatisfaction about the choices that we have,” he said.
Syrian refugees
In order for the United States to accept refugees from war-torn countries such as Syria or Libya, a system must first be in place to ensure Americans know each refugee’s personal history, background and likely intentions, Moran said.
“We are a country of immigrants,” he said. “I certainly don’t want to diminish our ability to be helpful to individuals in terrible circumstances. I also think it’s important for Americans to know we have a process, facilities to check out their intentions. Part of my view is colored by the belief that I have no doubt ISIS and other terror organizations are interested, willing and desirous for attacks in the United States and will look for opportunities for us to be attacked.
“How do you get to the root of the problem, which is the deterioration of the government in Syria that has no ability to protect its citizens and their property?” he asked. “We have the right as Americans to choose who comes to our country. It’s the nature of our sovereignty.
“But I don’t think that criteria is based upon religion,” Moran said. “It’s based upon threat.”
