Congressman Mike Michaud has been presented with the “Legislator of the Year” award from the National Association of State Veterans Homes, in recognition of his commitment to veterans’ issues and the State Veterans Homes program. Michaud was recognized for his leadership on improving long-term care services and benefits for veterans and for his work to provide adequate reimbursement to the nation’s system of 140 state veterans homes for the care they provide.
Contributed photo
Congressman Michael Michaud was recently bestowed with the “Legislator of the Year” award from the National Association of State Veterans’ Homes, recognizing his commitment to veteran issues. Attending the awards presentation were, from left: Kelley J. Kash, chief executive officer of Maine Veterans’ Homes; Congressman Michaud and Dr. Bill Flahive, vice chair of the Maine Veterans’ Homes board of trustees.
“I am humbled by this honor,” said Michaud, ranking member of the House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Health. “Veterans’ homes provide an extremely valuable service to our nation’s veterans and I will continue to do everything I can to advance legislation to fix their reimbursement problem.”
Last year, Michaud held a hearing on new VA regulations that changed the reimbursement system for services provided by state veterans homes. As an unintended consequence, the new system does not provide many state veterans homes adequate reimbursement for the actual cost of caring for disabled veterans, including those in Maine. Michaud is preparing to reintroduce an updated bill to fix the problem nationally.
