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True choice empowers veterans to make their decisions on health care
The Hill
In recent hearings discussing the Department of Veterans Affairs budget for fiscal year 2016, VA Secretary Robert McDonald asked for the authority to repurpose the money that is allocated to the Veterans Choice Program. His main argument — that the program has been underutilized.
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March 17 survey results: What current agencies in your city or state has helped you either with employment, housing or medical assistance?
VA program provides veterans with housing, health care
Connecticut Post
A month before he left prison, Jeffrey Murdock, a veteran who suffers from depression and multiple sclerosis, thought his future would entail living as a patient in a state mental hospital. But Murdock's outlook changed drastically after a Veterans Health Administration social worker met with him while he was still in prison, assessed him and arranged for him to receive an apartment, food, clothing and medical care upon his release.
Texas Army veteran supports medical marijuana
KEYE-TV
 Patients with cancer, seizure disorders and chronic pain surrounded Rep. Marisa Marquez, D-El Paso, Texas, as she pushed for Texas to legalize medical marijuana. "The people here today believe Texans deserve access to medical marijuana as a treatment option," she said. Marquez filed HB 3785 that would allow patients with debilitating conditions to access marijuana with a doctor's recommendation. A similar bill was also filed in the senate.
Texas lawmakers: Funding a college education for veterans too high
The Associated Press via The Huffington Post
They signed up to fight for their country, and the state of Texas promised to pay for their education.
For decades, veterans went to public universities and colleges under the Hazlewood Exemption, which kicks in after federal benefits under the G.I. Bill are exhausted. But the price tag has increased sevenfold since 2009, when legislators in Texas — which has the country's second-highest veteran population, 1.7 million — allowed the benefit to be passed on to veterans' children under a legacy provision.
Do today's veterans really have trouble getting jobs?
Marketplace
The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases annual figures on employment for veterans every March. There's a familiar story that veterans from the post-9/11 era have had an especially hard time finding work. However, the numbers supporting that premise turn out to be elusive.
Is enough being done to prepare veterans for civilian jobs?
U.S. News & World Report
Holly Mosack intended to go into the Army Reserve once she graduated from Northwestern University in 1997. A Reserve Officers' Training Corps scholarship helped pay Mosack's way through college, but a three-week stint at the U.S. Army Airborne School between her junior and senior years changed her course. Fast-forward to 2004. Mosack had just concluded a seven-year military career and was in the process of what many veterans describe as the daunting transition into the civilian labor force.
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A fix for jobless vets? Make them entrepreneurs
CNBC
The U.S. unemployment rate has fallen to 5.5 percent — the lowest since 2008 — according to the latest figures, but one segment of the population isn't cheering just yet. Military veterans are almost twice as likely as nonveterans to start their own business, but their unemployment rate stands at 6.7 percent as of February, and has been consistently higher than the national average, according to the Small Business Administration.
5 things veterans should know to start a technology business
Entrepreneur
As military engagements start to wind down after more than a decade of active combat, and as improved technology and weapons systems decrease our need for "boots on the ground," the composition and size of the U.S. military is quickly changing. With these changes, more of our military veterans are leaving the service and entering the civilian workforce. While many veterans will seek and find traditional jobs at existing companies, some are breaking out on their own and starting new enterprises.
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