Veteran’s Healthcare Policy Outdated

To the Honorable Senator Mark Kelly and fellow legislators:

The following essay substantiates why an immediate act of congress is warranted.

In 1991, while serving in the Gulf War as a USAF reservist, my annual mammogram detected an anomaly in my right breast. My commanding officer issued an AF Form 348 Line of Duty for this suspected tumor. The LOD determination was significant for eligibility for benefits. A common seemingly derogatory joke about my breast predicament within my unit made by enlisted personnel and officers, including my Squadron commander, was “that it would take an act of Congress to make these changes.” The VA consistently denied my claim from 1994, stating that the cysts did not meet the standard definition of a cyst according to the Code of Federal Regulations Title 38 under Subpart A — General Policy in Rating for Service-connected disabilities.

Feeling overwhelmed, I reached out to Lori my US Army veteran girlfriend for advice. She graciously arranged for me to see her family doctor, a former Navy combat pilot. *God bless this Navy veteran for the letter he wrote to the VA review board explaining how fibroid cysts are totally opposite from the external cyst — like the boil on your butt that does exude and exfoliate as per the VA Title 38 federal regulations require. Fibroid cysts grow internally inside the breast tissues. Some might need surgery, but they can also be a precursor of cancer. Working with healthcare providers who truly understand, and support women’s specific…