Representative Klee
And that’s actually kind of what the Voucher program does, but there’s limitations to the Voucher program the
way they put it through. It took a while to get it through. The choice was — each doctor had to apply. CMC
couldn’t apply or Concord Hospital couldn’t apply so that they could give services. Each doctor providing service
had to apply. They did kind of streamline that on the federal level to make that a little bit better. | know exactly
what you’re talking about. | have a husband who was drafted in ’69 during Vietnam and he goes through the
same thing. He also worked for the VA. | hate to see the dismantling. And | agree with you, they should be able
to go anywhere they want. That’s where the veterans groups kind of have — the healthier veterans want to be
able to go anywhere they can. Many of the veterans have PTSD and mental health issues and want to stick
together. They want the VA to stay. So you can see both sides of it. New Hampshire was granted 30 miles
versus the actual 50 miles, so that meant they could go to CMC or they could go to Concord Hospital or they
could go to Elliot. But these hospitals don’t want them because they’re not paying their bills.
Alderman Dowd
My experience is with one of the private nursing homes, not the state-funded, which | can imagine is even worse.
One of the problems they have hiring people is that, first of all, you have to be a special person to want to work
with the elderly because it’s a tough thing to do. But they’re not getting paid what they would get if they were
working at the Elliot; not even close. And that’s why they’re having a problem hiring people. We're not paying
them. At least we ought to try to close that gap so they can have some chance of getting additional staff.
Representative Klee
That’s kind of the same problem that we’re having with our mental health doctors, on the state level. We haven't
given them a raise in almost a decade. | think it’s 11 years. That’s why we can’t get mental health physicians
here. That is a state issue.
Alderman LeBrun
| just want to respond to some of the things | just heard about the VA. | go to the VA. | go to specialists that the
VA sends me to. The only thing | need is prior authorization. It’s not that they don’t want to send us and it’s not
because they’re not getting paid. They send me to specialists regularly, outside the VA. There’s nothing wrong
with Manchester VA, nothing at all. They've made great strides in trying to accommodate veterans with the
specialized cases they have. | can’t say anything bad about the VA. The other thing is on the nursing homes.
Hillsborough County has the only nursing home in the entire state that’s in the black. No other nursing home is
in the black except Hillsborough County. And you mentioned White River Junction — White River Junction has
closed. There is no White River Junction anymore.
Representative Klee
When did that happen?
Alderman LeBrun
About a month ago.
Representative Klee
You misunderstood me when | said about the not getting paid. | didn’t mean the VA wasn’t getting paid. | meant
that the specialists aren’t getting paid timely. It may be your doctors are putting in the paperwork exactly the way
that they want it. The cases that | did, in fact, soeak to, the one from [inaudible], the cardiac specialist there, it
was a year and a half. The gentleman that | spoke to, from Manchester, with the knee surgery where he wouldn’t
go for the second one, that was 19 months that he did not get paid. | agree with you. | worked for the VA for 26
years; | don’t want to see it dismantled. | think it’s the most incredible program, considering the number of
hospitals they have throughout the entire country, including Guam and Puerto Rico. | think it’s the most fantastic
