Louisiana could open VA homes to paying National Guard, Reserve military veterans
Military decorations on a U.S. Army uniform. (Photo credit: Wes Muller/Louisiana Illuminator)
State residents who served in the military on a part-time basis could soon opt to live at Louisiana Veteran Homes locations, which provide geriatric and psychiatric health care services to qualified residents.
House Bill 60, which Rep. Jay Gallé, R-Mandeville, is proposing for the upcoming legislative session, would allow admission for former members of the National Guard and military reservists into Veterans Affairs retirement and nursing homes even if they didn't see active duty. The only catch is that they would have to pay for the services on their own.
'We feel they signed a 'blank check' and were willing to sacrifice but did not serve during a war period and were never activated to active duty,' Louisiana VA Secretary Charlton Meginley said, adding that they deserve to at least be admitted to a veteran home on a private contract.
The Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs, which crafted the legislation, operates five Louisiana Veteran Homes that house and care for a total of roughly 630 residents. They are located in Bossier City, Jackson, Jennings, Monroe and Reserve.
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Currently, admissions eligibility rules are fairly strict and exclude many veterans who did not see active duty but otherwise served honorably in the U.S. military, Gallé said.
'It's about being inclusive to allow veterans who didn't serve in a combat zone to stay in a retirement home,' he said.
More than 261,000 military veterans live in Louisiana. About 75,000 receive disability benefits totaling roughly $2.1 billion, and 25,000 veterans have earned retirement pensions worth $700 million, according to the state VA office.
Meginley said the state currently requires veterans to have served at least 90 days on active duty. Gallé's bill would waive that requirement without affecting the state's federal VA funding.
Current state law has a similar exception for veteran spouses and 'Gold Star' relatives of service members killed in action, the VA secretary said.
Meginley explained that the state VA receives federal funding for every eligible active duty veteran admitted to a home. If Gallé's bill is enacted, the state would still not receive any taxpayer money for the new class of veterans it admits to the homes, but it would admit non-active veterans who might want to stay at a veteran home and can afford to pay their own way, he said.
Lawmakers will consider Gallé's bill during the session that convenes April 14.
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