By Mike Jacobs, Vice President of Regulatory Affairs
In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, lawmakers, administration, and agency officials in Washington are seeking ways to rapidly leverage communications resources to provide relief to Americans directly affected by the “new normal.” One direct example is the provision of the CARES Act (click link and see pp. 305-06, Sec. 20004) that encourages the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to make mental health care through telehealth services available to more veterans, and facilitates the VA being active in entering into contracts with broadband providers to provide the connectivity these veterans need.
Among the groups more prone to suffer a disproportionate impact from the social distancing protocols necessitated by the COVID-19 response is our nation’s veterans. In fact, the CARES Act specifically contemplates that veterans may be at increased risk of suicide or other serious mental health concerns due to social isolation associated with the COVID-19 response. In recognition of this, in the CARES Act Congress further equips the VA Secretary with authority to enter into short-term agreements with communications providers of all types for temporary, complimentary or subsidized broadband services, for the purposes of providing expanded mental health services to isolated veterans through telehealth or the VA Video Connect Program during the COVID-19 public health emergency. This legislative provision enables the VA to expand veterans’ eligibility to benefit from telehealth services, and facilitates the VA being active in seeking applicable agreements with communications providers by furnishing such authority “[n]otwithstanding any other provision of law.”
Recently, 10 members of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs wrote to the VA Secretary specifically encouraging him to take immediate action on this authority Congress gave the VA in the CARES Act. This same letter particularly “noted with strong interest the pro-consumer efforts taken by many telecommunications companies during this pandemic to enhance the connectivity of Americans,” and lauded “this type of resourcefulness and assistance from the private sector that will ensure our nation emerges from this crisis stronger.” These sentiments certainly apply to ACA Connects members who have proudly stepped up to sign the Keep Americans Connected pledge and/or to voluntarily adopt other measures to help our neighbors, who suddenly are in greater need than ever of home connectivity while at the same time facing financial hardship. All of us have been touched by the medical personnel and first responders who have been on the forefront in dealing with the COVID-19 response, as well as the grocery clerks and field technicians, including our own employees, who now find themselves as the new faces of the front lines in combatting the pandemic’s impacts. Let us also not forget at this time those who have served at great peril literally on the front lines on behalf of all Americans.
We know that you will eagerly work with the VA if contacted by the agency to establish a broadband services agreement pursuant to the CARES Act’s provisions. In fact, you need not wait for the VA to contact you; if you are interested in reaching out to the VA proactively to pursue such agreements, contact Mike Jacobs, ACA Connects Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, at [email protected]. Thank you for your continued efforts and sacrifices to help all of us, including our nation’s veterans, get through this together!