As a 20-year combat aviator, I’ve seen firsthand the sacrifices our servicemembers and their families make. They serve with honor, carry the burden long after the mission ends — and they deserve a health care system that has their back.
The problem: Outdated red tape is putting veterans’ families at risk. Currently, the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA) gives surviving spouses and children just 180 days to secure continued health coverage after a tragedy — or they could lose it entirely.
- Over 730,000 spouses and children of veterans who are permanently disabled or died in service rely on CHAMPVA for health coverage.
- But if tragedy strikes, families are forced to navigate a maze of paperwork under impossible deadlines.
Why it matters: When you lose someone you love, health care coverage shouldn’t hang in the balance. A grieving spouse or a child caring for a parent shouldn’t have to battle the VA for benefits their family already earned in service to our country.
That’s why we just introduced the bipartisan CHAMP VA Filing Extension Act to give veterans’ families the time, clarity, and respect they deserve by:
✅ Extending the current 180-day filing window to a full year
✅ Helping families coordinate CHAMPVA and Medicare without bureaucratic headaches
✅ Requiring the VA to establish clear, consistent, commonsense rules across the board for every family
Bottom Line: When tragedy strikes, no family should lose health coverage because of a government deadline. Our veterans stepped up for us — and now it’s our duty to step up for them.