Senator Tammy Baldwin made a stop in Wausau on Thursday.
She was at the United Way of Marathon County to discuss veterans assistance programs among other things.
Sen. Baldwin says she wanted to hear experiences from actual veterans who have struggled with obtaining healthcare services. "This meeting was to hear some of the veterans personal stories about the difficulties they've encountered in accessing care in the community and also the frustration when providers drop out of the choice program," she said.
Sen. Baldwin says that she believes the VA has let down veterans in many ways, but the biggest might be the opioid epidemic. "In one such way, is the over-prescription and over-reliance on opioid painkillers," said Baldwin. "We were finding that too many of our veterans were getting hooked rather than getting help."
Sen. Baldwin had about an hour-long roundtable discussion with many local veterans and veteran assistance program leaders to try and learn about what vets are going through and what kind of legislation needs to be put into place to help them.
