by LARRY ABRAMSON
Chris Hondros/Getty Images A veteran of the Iraq War with post-traumatic stress disorder talks to physical therapist Nicole Bormann before a session in the VA Medical Center in St. Louis.
April 25, 2012
"Veterans for Common Sense is suing the VA over delays in treatment, and over the time it takes some vets to get benefit payments. The VA announced plans to hire nearly 2,000 additional mental health staff last week, just days before this report came out."
Over the past five years, the Department of Veterans Affairs says, the number of former service members seeking mental health services has climbed by a third. In response, the agency has boosted funding and tightened standards.
Now, any vet asking for help is supposed to be evaluated within 24 hours and start treatment within two weeks. The VA has claimed that happens in the vast majority of cases, but a new investigation by the agency's inspector general says the VA statistics are skewed to make wait times appear shorter.
You don't see the real cost in human terms until 20 to 30 years after the conflict has ended. - Patrick Bellon, Veterans For Common Sense
Paul Rieckhoff of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America says that is not surprising.
"It illustrates, in incredible clarity, how dysfunctional the VA system is right now for thousands of veterans around the country," he says.
The inspector general's report says, rather than starting the clock from the moment a vet asks for mental health care, the VA has been counting from whenever the first appointment became available. That could add weeks or months to the wait time.
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