1. United States
2. Wash.
3. Letter

Veterans across the country rely on massage therapy through VA Community Care to manage chronic pain, sleep better and stay active, often with less medication. VA itself prescribes this care. Now veterans are losing it. VA cut what it pays massage therapists starting in 2025 and is now demanding that therapists repay money for sessions going back to 2023, care VA authorized and paid for at the time. Therapists cannot absorb these losses, and they are leaving. About 1,000 massage therapists have left the VA program, and Kansas, Wyoming and Minnesota now have no VA massage coverage at all. Many veterans, especially rural, older and homebound veterans who were treated at home, have no one left to see. In September 2026, Vietnam Veterans of America, the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, the National Association of State Directors of Veterans Affairs and other organizations warned Secretary Collins that this program faces collapse. Veterans should not lose effective, non-opioid pain care because of a billing policy. As your constituent and Veteran, I urge you to work with the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committees to: Stop making massage therapists pay back money for veterans’ sessions VA already approved and paid for. Pay massage therapists fairly, so they can keep treating veterans. Let veterans keep getting massage therapy for ongoing pain, instead of being cut off after a few months. Thank you for standing up for the veterans in our state.