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Bill to improve women veterans’ healthcare in Florida, elsewhere becomes law

The Deborah Sampson Act is designed to improve and expand healthcare services to women veterans.
 
James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital in Tampa has a women’s center with a dedicated entrance for women veterans and their families.
James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital in Tampa has a women’s center with a dedicated entrance for women veterans and their families.
Published Jan. 19, 2021

While Tampa Bay veterans medical centers have been addressing women veterans’ healthcare needs with services such as women’s centers complete with their own dedicated entrances, a new law signed at the start of the year seeks to improve and expand services across the country.

The Deborah Sampson Act, named after a woman who disguised herself as a man to fight in the Revolutionary War, passed as part of the Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2020.

It calls for a new Office of Women’s Health within the Department of Veterans Affairs, staff training to better meet women veterans’ healthcare needs, and efforts to eliminate sexual harassment and assault. It includes expanded coverage of counseling and treatment for sexual trauma, among other provisions.

“The Deborah Sampson Act is landmark legislation that will build on VA’s ongoing efforts to ensure that VA benefits and services meet the needs of women Veterans,” said Mary Kay Rutan, spokeswoman for the network that oversees Florida’s VA medical centers, in a statement. “We look forward to working with Congress to implement the bill’s many provisions.”