The following letter was sent to New York State elected officials Amy Paulin (District 88), Josh Jensen (District 134), and members of the New York State Assembly Health Committee. Our request is to have them sponsor a bill that would allow HBOT treatments for veterans with diagnosed TBI/PTSD. If you live in New York State, we encourage you to reach out to your representative this summer and reiterate this request. We have attached a PDF version of this letter you can download to send along with your personal request. As always, reach out with any questions. We’ll try to help as best we can!

Hello Chairperson Paulin, Ranking Minority Member Jensen, members of the Assembly Health Committee, and others, Congratulations to all on a very productive legislative session. 

American Flag

I wanted to share a letter from a member of the Michigan House of Representatives, Kathy Schmaltz, in which she eloquently requests a committee meeting on her bill sponsoring HBOT for veterans with TBI/PTSD (a PDF of this document is available to download).    Michigan is one of nine states currently in the process of discussing, drafting, or implementing legislation enabling veterans with TBI/PTSD to obtain state-funded HBOT. Ten states have already enacted such legislation and we hope to see New York join their ranks. Oklahoma, Texas, Indiana, Arizona, Kentucky, Florida, North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia, and Wyoming have collectively state funded over $32 million to date for Veteran HBOT treatments. 

When you return to your home districts, we urge you to consider the plight of NYS veterans suffering from a 20+ year epidemic of suicides and opioid addiction.  HBOT has been proven to help control those life-threatening challenges, and allow people to live happier, more productive lives.  NYS has the fifth-largest veteran population in the US, with 838,000 individuals. Of these, approximately 36,000 suffer from TBI/PTSD.  These individuals reside in every assembly district and will benefit from this relatively inexpensive and safe therapy. Please reach out to veteran service groups to get their take as five major national VSO leaders have endorsed HBOT for TBI/PTSD Veterans.  

hyperbaric oxygen therapy

You may wonder why HBOT for brain injuries is not approved by the FDA and covered by VA benefits and private insurance. HBOT chambers are already in ample supply, so drug companies and medical device manufacturers are unwilling to fund the costly FDA approval process.  Because of this, FDA approval for brain injuries may never happen.  Yet HBOT is proven safe and effective, and increasingly becoming standard treatment for TBI in places as diverse as Israel and China.    

On behalf of our Alliance partners, TreatNOW.org, and The Stram Center for Integrative Health, we are hoping one of you will take the lead and sponsor or co-sponsor the bill to move this forward.  Our coalition can help with research, drafting, and providing a comprehensive bibliography of clinical trials in the USA and elsewhere. Thank you for your attention, and please stay well.

Joel

Joel Goldstein
Executive Director, The BART Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity
PO Box 13
Glenmont, NY 12077
(845) 797-7869
jgoldstein@thebartfoundation.org