White House To Focus on Health Care Services for Military, Families
On Monday, the White House announced a new federal initiative to aid members of the military and their families, including provisions related to health care, Politico reports.
The program will involve the cooperation of nearly 50 federal agencies, including HHS and the Treasury Department (Parnes/Philip, Politico, 1/24).
The initiative will focus on improving four areas, which are:
- Physical and mental health of those in military families;
- Education of children from military families;
- Educational and career opportunities for military spouses; and
- Quality of child care programs managed by the armed services.
The program includes nearly 50 initiatives, such as:
- A military suicide prevention program run by HHS and the Pentagon;
- An effort to prevent homelessness among soldiers and veterans coordinated by the Department of Housing and Urban Development;
- An anti-predatory lenders program developed by the Treasury Department; and
- An effort by the Interior Department to use national parks to run programs that treat wounded veterans (Skiba, Los Angeles Times, 1/24).
President Obama said the initiative will help service members "maintain both strong families and a high state of readiness." He added that the program also will seek to improve public appreciation and understanding of "the experience, strength and commitment" of service members (Politico, 1/24).
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