Taking Care of Our Veterans

While fixing the economy will be the dominant issue for both president-elect Obama and the new Congress, we hope, on this Veterans Day, that health care for our wounded warriors will be a top policy priority next year. Actually, we hope that the new Democratic majority spends more of its time addressing veterans' health issues. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will continue to, literally, add hundreds of thousands of veterans in need of mental and physical treatment and rehabilitation.

We've heard a good deal recently about the 18 percent of men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan who are at risk for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or depression, according to an authoritative RAND Corporation study. Another 19 percent are estimated of having experienced traumatic brain injury (TBI) caused by improvised explosive devices that "rattle" the brain. In total more than 300,000 of our own are suffering from PTSD, depression or TBI.

What we have heard less about are other health care challenges, like those facing women veterans. The Department of Veterans Affairs system, a relic of a male-dominated military past, is simply unable to adequately treat the influx of women coming home from combat theaters. Only eight percent of all VA medical centers across the country have a full-time female program manager. Sufficient female staff is vital to meeting the specialized needs of women veterans, particularly the 19 percent of women veterans surveyed by the VA between 2002-2006 who say they had experienced military sexual trauma.

Too little attention has been paid to the plight of family caregivers, as well. It is spouses, parents, children, and siblings who drop everything -- withdraw from school or quit a job -- to race to be at the bedside of wounded combat veterans, and remain with them throughout their treatment, recovery and rehabilitation. They are providing this care without adequate psychological and financial support.

The seminal issue, however, for us next year is VA finance reform.

In too many cases, VA is unable to properly treat the physical and mental scars of war, in part because its budget is late and unpredictable. VA doesn't know when during the year it will get its funding from Congress, nor does it know how much money it will receive from year to year. Such wacky financing causes unnecessary delays, hold ups, and backlogs in the system. Hiring key staff is put off, or just not done, while injuries like PTSD or TBI are too often not diagnosed in a timely manner. Robert Perreault, a former VA health official, has rightly noted in congressional testimony that "VA funding and the appropriations process is a process no effective business would tolerate."

The problem of VA financing is so important that a partnership of nine veteran service organizations has been created to encourage Congress to provide timely and predictable funding for veterans medical care. Our solution is simple: Congress should allocate funding for the VA health care system one year in advance of when the funds are actually needed, a method already used by Congress to finance some housing and education programs.

As a presidential candidate, Sen. Obama supported the year-in-advance proposal (as did Sen. McCain). This proposal has also been backed by an overwhelming majority of the American people, an influential group of Republican and Democratic members of the House and Senate, and eight million veterans represented by the nine veteran service organizations.

With tough economic times ahead, president-elect Obama and the 111th Congress face grave choices that will require all of us to sacrifice. But we must never forget the very real sacrifices already made by millions of American veterans who have been injured or disabled as a result of their service. In addition to our thanks, we must promise to ensure that they get timely access to the highest quality medical care our nation can deliver. Passing the year-in-advance funding legislation, as well as policies to support women veterans and family caregivers, would help to ensure we keep that promise. We urge the new leadership in Washington to take up these critical issues in 2009.

Joseph A. Violante is Legislative Director of the Disabled American Veterans, which is a member of the Partnership for Veterans Health Care Budget Reform

Comments

[AllisonBartonRice]

Essentially at the top of the list of one hundred and thirteen recommendations in a report called “Honoring the Call to Duty: Veterans’ Disability Benefits in the 21st Century” produced by the Veterans’ Disability Benefits Commission and delivered in October of 2007 after more than two years of work, and also the first comprehensive review of veterans’ disability benefits in fifty-one years, is an immediate increase in compensation levels for disabled veterans.

Our governmental leaders have not executed, or can not bring themselves to execute, the recommendations of their own commission for the benefit of the disabled veteran.

I find this most troubling especially in light that in these same times of substantial economic difficulties in our country, our same governmental leaders can fund multi-trillion dollar wars, as well as provide hundreds of billions, if not trillions, of dollars to financial institutions which most, if not all, are the institutions most culpable for the substantial economic difficulties in our country that we are faced with at this time.

The leaders, as well as most of the rank and file, of these institutions lavished themselves with unbelievable bonuses on top of their unbelievable salaries while they performed their economic folly in the times leading up to our present situation of substantial economic difficulties. And our governmental leaders have no difficulty in providing them ANY amount of money they can possibly dream of.

Where is the immediate increase in compensation levels for disabled veterans of the United States armed services?

[glitzqueen]

It's always been my view that "Our Glorious Dead" would have been a lot more glorious, living -- but sometimes good people earnestly believe they have to fight, and sometimes they really must.

I'm sure almost all of us older than 40 or so have close connections on both sides of that seesaw. The man who would become my father was among those who served during WWII and one of my exes was in Vietnam. Neither had any say in the matter.

When the draft finally ended, I rejoiced, but in recent years I've surprised myself by thinking that was a mistake. For the burden of service not to be shared equally by all is wrong, besides which veterans of the draft years say it made them better Americans by forcing them to understand and even rely for their lives upon citizens very different from themselves. That fostered tolerance and moved us forward as a nation toward greater justice.

Today on Thom Hartmann's Air America show, I heard another fact that's a most persuasive argument for restoring the draft: We now have fewer veterans than ever; thus, their influence on policy has declined tremendously. Due to our shift to volunteers and profiteers, only two percent of the population peform military service and only one percent are treated by the VA. Given those numbers, it's hardly surprisingly that only lip service has been paid to taking proper care of them.

It's something to think about today. And, one hopes, beyond today.

[zitlight73]

Of all the despicable things the Bush Administration have done its mistreatment of our soldiers and vets is the worst and least covered by the press. The treatment for Iraqi wounded war vets is criminal and it a hidden cost of that war that will cost untold billions. On this Veterans' Day I can't but help think of the times Bush used soldiers as props for speeches. With a stuffed codpiece strutting across that aircraft carrier like some grade schooler in a play proclaiming "Mission Accomplished." I also think of all those flagged draped coffins sneaked into Dover Air Base in the dead of night like dirt swept under a rug. Utterly despicable.

[LeiftheLucky]

Honor our Vets, please
http://allanerickson.wordpress.com/2008/11/11/veterans-day-2008/

[jmpurser]

We have approximately 400,000 backlogged disability cases at the Veteran's Administration. We've got an economic crisis and one of the things we want to do to address this is get money into the hands of people who will spend it in order to stimulate the economy.

How about dramatically expediting those disability cases and (for a change) deciding them in favor of the Veteran unless there's strong evidence not to. If that doesn't provide enough of a kick in the pants for the economy we can do the same thing with people who have file Social Security Disability cases. SS currently loses 60% of the cases which are contested. Why not switch and assume SS has screwed up the initial decision (again, unless there's positive evidence showing otherwise) and expedite paying out these claims?

These changes make sense ethically, practically, and economically. So why not? Let's go crazy and make "Support the Troops" more than just a bumper sticker on an SUV.

[LeonBNJ]

The spending of a few billion on better health care for our returning Iraq/Afganistan war vets is a very small amount vs. the costs of not doing enough, especially those costs beyond money. Many families with a family member with such problems are terribly emotionally and financialy stressed as well as face much higher risks of family violence. We must end the bureaurratic run-arounds, the lack of money, the lack of real attention for these people. I believe Obama will make this a high priority in his admistration.

[MichaelWax]

These proposals seem like common sense to me. I sure hope Obama doesnt overlook our veterans and provides them with the first class care they deserve.

[RockySoldier]

he's been at the forefront of veteran issues since the very first day he voted in the US senate. illinois vet benefits were increased largely do to his work. and Michelle has been and will continue to work with military families as a major part of her work while First Lady.

[kjstjohn]

Provide first-class care to every veteran and send a message of support to veterans Jim Martin and Max Cleland by donating to Jim Martin's Senate run-off campaign.

http://www.actblue.com/page/do-it-for-max