House subcommittee examines VA access problems, community residential treatment and proposed Veterans Access Act

Chairwoman Miller Meeks convened an oversight hearing of the House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Health to examine veterans' access to mental health care and residential substance use disorder (SUD) treatment, focusing on whether VA policies, processes and partnerships with community providers expand or impede timely care.

The hearing opened with Miller Meeks highlighting federal funding and suicide statistics: “VA's problem is not a lack of resources. VA's problem is not a lack of funding,” she said, noting that the Veterans Health Administration's budget grew from roughly $20,900,000,000 in February 2001 to about $121,000,000,000 in 2024 while reported veteran suicides remained near 16–17 per day.

The subcommittee heard sharply personal testimony and national-scale policy testimony. Missy Jarrett, whose son Landon Holcomb sought VA care and died May 2, 2024, told the panel: “The VA is killing our soldiers.” Jarrett described multiple canceled appointments, a months‑long gap between an initial consultation (December 4, 2023) and a follow‑up (April 10, 2024), and said her son had fentanyl in his system when he died. She said she was not told how to access community care and that she believed timely community care would have changed the outcome: “Yes. He would be with us today.”

Michael Urban, an Army veteran and licensed clinical social worker who has both provided and overseen SUD programs, described inconsistent practices across VA medical centers and urged adoption of industry clinical standards: “Community providers…