New VA budget the devil is in the details

The headline on Military.com is "VA Ramps Up Mental Health Funding After Rash of Parking Lot Suicides" but good time to remember the saying, "the devil is in the details" before you think this is a good thing.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is proposing spending $682 million more next fiscal year on mental health issues, and ramping up funding for suicide prevention efforts by one-third, as it faces Congressional scrutiny over a series of tragic incidents on VA premises over the past year.

The VA's budget request for fiscal 2021, released Monday, totals $243.3 billion -- a dramatic 10% increase from 2020. In addition to resourcing mental health and suicide prevention, it would nearly double the amount of funding for a joint VA-Defense Department effort to create a merged electronic health records system and provide a 9% increase to the budget for women's health care.

Image used by the Army Substance Abuse Program to bring attention to Suicide Awareness Month. (US Army/Michele Wiencek)

And here is the catch

"Despite significant investments in mental health care for veterans -- a top priority for the President, this Committee and VA -- these funds direct resources outside VA into grant programs and the Prevents Task Force instead of being used to explicitly support veterans in crisis at VA," Rep. Mark Takano, D-California, said in a statement Monday.

Plus another one.

Another point of contention with Congress is the electronic health records system (EHR). Designed to combine a variety of health records programs across the VA while also giving the Pentagon a way to transfer in its health records, the roll out has been delayed several times.

The VA's proposed budget would give the EHR effort $2.6 billion - nearly doubling the amount from FY 2020.

How many more years...how much more money will be spent when the results are so terrible veterans have been committing suicide in VA Parking lots?

This is from Connecting Vets

The 10-year endeavor already meant VA had to continue to maintain costly existing programs dating back to the 1970s, and VA leaders told Congress last year they weren’t sure exactly how much it’s cost so far, though the Government Accountability Office said VA spent at least $2.3 billion maintaining the system in 2015-17.

Staff said VA informed them the delay is due to issues with VA’s private network of community healthcare providers “not being ready.”

But after Wilkie dismissed the deputy secretary last week, staff said he told them he did a “deep dive” review of EHR readiness, spoke with leaders at the pilot VA hospital and decided to delay the launch.

93 Year Old WWII Veteran's VA Pension Claim Tied Up For 18 Months?

93-year-old veteran's pension application held-up for 18 months

WTVR 6 News
By: Bree Sison
Feb 11, 2020

The Problem Solvers reached out to at least a half dozen officials and advocacy groups on Jerry Horn’s behalf. Congressman Ben Cline called Bob Horn in late January to say his office had secured a favorable outcome in the case. The next day, Bob received letters from other federal officials and the VA stating the pension had been denied.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- The family of a 93-year-old veteran in Charlottesville cannot understand why the Veterans Administration has taken more than 18 months to approve a pension application.

“It’s very frustrating. He deserves this. He earned it,” Dr. Bob Horn tells the Problem Solvers.

Like many members of the Greatest Generation, Bob’s father Jerome Horn did not talk about his experience serving in the United States Army during World War II.
read it here

Over 100 servicemembers with TBI from Iran bombs..,not just headaches

Over 100 US troops have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries following Iran strike

CNN
Barbara Starr
February 10, 2020

Last month, Trump said he does not consider potential brain injuries to be as serious as physical combat wounds, downplaying the severity of the injuries suffered in Iraq.

(CNN)Over 100 US service members have been diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injuries in the wake of the January 8 Iranian missile attack on the al Asad military base in Iraq, according to a US official with knowledge of the latest information.

A picture of the destruction left at Al Asad base in Iraq after it was struck by Iranian missiles.

Later on Monday the Pentagon released a statement confirming that 109 service members had been diagnosed, an increase of 45 from the end of January when they said 64 service members had been suffered injuries.

The statement added that nearly 70% of the injured service members have returned to duty.
read it here

Will Seniors have to share rooms with their grandkids?

Seniors need to watch out for budget cuts

If the economy is so great, as POTUS claims, why would he want to cut so much from seniors? Many of them voted for him believing his speeches on how he was not touching Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security...just like his tweet after the budget he submitted.

It proposes steep cuts in many domestic programs and increases in spending on the military and other programs that will appeal to Trump’s base as he campaigns for voters to return him to office for another four years.

Overall, Trump’s budget will seek $4.4 trillion in savings over a decade – $2 trillion of which would come from savings from entitlements, including $130 billion from changes to Medicare prescription drug pricing.

Democrats said that would amount to a half-a-trillion-dollar cut to Medicare, roughly $900 billion in cuts to Medicaid and a $24 billion cut to Social Security.

That was all from an article on USA Today, and you can read the rest here.

Trump's budget reflects campaign priorities but abandons pledge to wipe out deficit in 10 years

Marine Corps League Delaware County chapter officers face charges for stealing funds

Delaware County DA: Officers From Marine Corps League Arrested, Charged For Stealing Over $53,000 From Group

By CBS3 Staff
February 7, 2020

DELAWARE COUNTY, Pa. (CBS) — Two people are accused of stealing money from the Marine Corps League of Delaware County. Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer says Alan Staniskis stole more than $53,000 from the group.

He was the commandant of the Upland Chapter of the organization.

The group’s paymaster, Kera Kiss, is also accused of altering the books to hide the improper withdrawals.
read it here