40% of complaints during Congressman Neal Dunn’s first term was comprised of VA-related concerns. This along with his 11 year service as an Army surgeon propelled Dunn to set his sights on solving veterans’ issues.

As a result, Dunn was recently appointed to lead the health subcommittee by House Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Phil Roe.

Commenting on his role in the health subcommittee, Dunn explained that he’s not “not to just rush in and make a lot of changes. The first thing to do is take stock of what we’ve got. There’s a lot of numbers. You’re talking about the single largest hospital and health care system in the country.”

Speaking to the News Herald, Dunn mentioned legislation that he would like to help pass such as the VA Mission Act of 2018. It would replace the Choice Program, and what the legislation would allow is veterans to have more private care options. While the Mission act has been approved by Congress, it is still awaiting the signature of President Trump to take effect.

However, legislation introduced by Dunn has become part of the Mission Act, which includes the Veterans Increased Choice for Transplanted Organs and Recovery (VICTOR) Act that allows Veterans in need of bone marrow or an organ transplant through the VA health care system to be able to receive care from a federally certified transplant center near their place of residence.

Dunn explained that “Transplants are highly, highly time-sensitive operations. They have to be done, and they have to be done quickly. If you have a guy in Florida who needs a liver transplant, he’s got to get to Minneapolis to get to the liver. … We literally have no VA transplant center in Florida.”