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After a long time of neglect, the U.S. authorities is one step nearer to eliminating longstanding obstacles to free well being take care of veterans from three Pacific Island nations.
A whole bunch of such veterans, who served within the U.S. navy as overseas residents, are legally entitled to the care, however present federal regulation prevents the Division of Veterans Affairs from both immediately offering it to them the place they reside or from compensating them for the price of flights to the USA for it.
This month, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Inside Secretary Deb Haaland requested congressional leaders to move laws that might permit the division to do both of these two issues.
Joseph Yun, President Biden’s particular envoy to the three Micronesian nations — the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau — mentioned in an interview that reporting by The New York Occasions “had a bearing” on the choice to pursue modifications to the boundaries to care.
The three Micronesian nations are impartial however keep shut relationships with the USA underneath agreements generally known as compacts of free affiliation. The compacts give the USA management over the Micronesian nations’ safety and permit their residents to enlist within the American navy, amongst different issues.
Mr. Yun has spent the previous yr negotiating updates to the compacts, as the USA solidifies its relationships within the Pacific towards Chinese language affect. The modifications for veterans are a part of a package deal of compact-related proposals.
Kalani Kaneko, a veteran and a Marshallese former well being minister, mentioned he was “hopeful and optimistic” in regards to the information. However he then struck a extra pissed off observe. “I additionally image our veterans who took their very own lives as a result of they weren’t getting the assistance they wanted,” he mentioned. “And I want they have been nonetheless round to see the progress.”
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