Harrisburg − June 22, 2023 – The Pennsylvania Senate today unanimously approved legislation, State Senate Resolution 46, aimed at ensuring the health care needs of women veterans are met in Pennsylvania introduced by Senator Lisa Boscola and her colleagues, Senator Tracy Pennycuick and Senator Frank Farry.
Senate Resolution 46 would establish the Task Force on Women Veterans’ Health Care in Pennsylvania that would study health issues facing women veterans in the Commonwealth and make recommendations to the General Assembly and the Governor.
“There are currently more than 60,000 women veterans who served during wartime in this Commonwealth and that number will only increase,” Boscola stated. “Women veterans face unique challenges with both their physical and mental health as they transition from active duty to civilian life and we as a Commonwealth must ensure that those challenges are met.”
The Task Force on Women Veterans’ Health Care would be established by the Joint State Government Commission and consist of the Chair of the State Veterans’ Commission, medical providers with relevant specialties, other individuals with specialties in areas impacting the physical and mental health of women veterans and a Judge that sits on a county’s Veteran’s Court.
The Task Force will study the health care needs of women veterans focused on numerous areas including bur not limited to quality of and access to mental health services including services for post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury and military sexual trauma; in patient treatment availability; adequacy and availability of appropriate health care within the Veterans Affairs system and this Commonwealth, as well as the interaction and recognition of the needs of women veterans by private health care providers; and the adequacy, quality of and access to services providing for the identification of military sexual trauma, including sexual abuse and harassment.
“This task force will report to the legislature, and governor, recommendations on how we can improve the health care of female veterans across the Commonwealth, Boscola added. “These brave women served our country and now it is up to us to ensure that we serve them the best we can as they convert to civilian life. I am grateful for the Senate’s unanimous support for this bipartisan effort and more importantly, the positive attention this issue is receiving.”
The Joint State Government will report the findings and recommendations within 18 months to the Governor, Senate and the House of Representatives.
# # #