"Pledge to America" hurt veterans

There has been something going on in this country that reminds me of the movie "Something Wicked This Way Comes." While congress has been patting themselves on the back in front of veterans groups, they have been using their free middle finger hidden from view.

Veteran trapped in 800,000 paperwork backlog but while congress passed rule changed to allow Vietnam Veterans to file claims for the growing list of Agent Orange related health problems along with making it easier to file PTSD claims, the number of claims processors has been cut. Cut? Yes. For all the talk about getting it right for veterans, they wait without money for months wondering how to keep a roof over their heads and feed their families.

House passes government funding measure, sends on to President Obama
By Felicia Sonmez
Updated: 7:40 p.m.

The House on Tuesday night passed a bill that would continue to fund the government through March 4, 2011, sending the measure to President Obama for his signature ahead of a midnight deadline.

The bill passed by a 193-to-165 vote, with about 80 members not present. The House vote was closer than the Senate's vote on the measure earlier Tuesday; 79 senators voted in favor of the bill and 16 voted against it.

President Obama must sign the bill by midnight in order to avert a federal shutdown.

If you read the newspapers you'd think that the hiring freeze exempted the VA, but it didn't. Across the country it seems every state has been cutting the people working for veterans.

Louisiana
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT –LIMITED HIRING FREEZE
The following departments, agencies, and/or budget units of the executive branch of the State of Louisiana (hereafter “Unit and/or “Units”), as described in and/or funded by appropriations through Acts 11 and 41 of the 2010 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature (hereafter “Acts”), shall be subject to the hiring freeze as provided in this Executive Order:
Executive Branch
Schedule 01 — Executive Department Schedule 03 — Veterans Affairs

Sioux City
County department seeks to break hiring freeze
Story
Discussion
By Bret Hayworth bhayworth@siouxcityjournal.com | Posted: Wednesday, April 27, 2011


SIOUX CITY -- All Woodbury County governmental departments have been under a hiring freeze for more than a year, but with a doubled workload the commission of veteran affairs director is looking to expand the staff to three.
Danille Dempster, Veteran Affairs director, and commission chairman Ronald Kerr on Tuesday told the five county supervisors an additional worker is needed.
"The amount of veterans that are eligible (for programs) is increasing every year," Kerr said, citing Vietnam War veterans who are just now coming in for Agent Orange-related ailments.

Errors in making decisions have also added to the pain veterans suffer.

Veterans' Disability
5/27/2011
Advocate for the Disabled

VA Retraining Mental Health Claims Processors

A Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) internal investigation revealed a high number of errors being made on disability claims evaluations filed by veterans suffering from traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). In response to those results, the VA is implementing new training for both their health care workers and their benefits processors.

The results of the investigation were somewhat shocking. The VA's Office of Inspector General (OIG) found 8% of veterans claims filed for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) contained errors. For those claims filed for TBIs, however, the error rate jumped to 19%. More than 50% of the TBI claims directly affected veterans' benefits.

There was an overall 23% error rate in all the OIG-reviewed cases. Most of the errors were technical, meaning they did not affect benefits. More than 80% of the claims, however, involved 100% disability ratings, and were made based on a need for surgery or other treatment stemming from a service-related disability.

The OIG examined 16,000 disability files based solely on PTSD claims. Investigators found there was no way the claims processors could be accurate with the limited training and experience they possessed. The VA noted the largest number of mistakes were made verifying specific events qualifying for PTSD benefits. The VA, however, has made that verification process much easier, and has therefore eliminated this issue.
Veterans' Disability

But it was not the hiring of Federal Employees that got us into this mess and if things go as planned by the GOP with their "Pledge to America" things are going to get a whole lot worse for our veterans.

FMA URGES SHIFT IN FOCUS ON WORKFORCE RIGHTSIZING DEBATE

The House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service and Labor Policy once again played host to a contentious debate centering on proposed cuts to the civil service. During a May 26 hearing titled, “Rightsizing the Federal Workforce,” lawmakers from both sides of the aisle sparred over data relating to the size and composition of, along with compensation received by, the federal workforce. The Federal Managers Association (FMA), along with the Senior Executives Association (SEA) and the Professional Managers Association (PMA), submitted joint testimony for the record urging lawmakers to consider the scope of work carried out by employees to achieve agency missions, not just the number of active civil servants.

In his opening statement, Subcommittee Chairman Dennis Ross (R-Fl.) exclaimed that the number of federal employees has exploded over the last few years, to the tune of 2.1 million in sum, reaching unprecedented heights in recent United States history. He also stated that federal workers, on average, earn $101,751 in compensation, a figure he said far outpaces the private sector average. Ranking Member Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) countered the Chairman’s opening statement by refuting his compensation figure and declaring it is important to remember there are two types of federal workers: federal employees and federal contractors. Lynch said there are 10.5 million contractors and grantees working for the federal government, nearly four times the number of civil servants, military personnel and postal employees. He said too often the finger of blame for our fiscal woes goes around and around before falling on federal employees.

Appearing before the Subcommittee, Representatives Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Tom Marino (R-Penn.) detailed their respective legislative measures introduced in the 112th Congress to pare down the size of the civil service. The Federal Workforce Reduction Act (H.R. 657), introduced by Lummis, would restrict federal hiring to one new employee for every two who leave the civil service. The legislation exempts the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs from the attrition policy. Marino’s bill, the Federal Hiring Freeze Act (H.R. 1779), would enforce a hiring freeze until the budget deficit is eliminated.

Both Lummis and Marino argued that federal employees provide essential services, but American taxpayers cannot afford to maintain the workforce on its current growth trajectory, maintaining their bills represent measures necessary to address the current economic environment. Lummis said she believes reducing the workforce through attrition, as opposed to other means, is sensible and will not hurt federal families’ economic wellbeing.

In the joint testimony, FMA, SEA and PMA cautioned that the two legislative proposals ignore the real concern of whether federal workforce levels enable agencies to achieve their congressionally-mandated objectives.

“We are primarily concerned that enacting proposals promoting a government-wide workforce reduction or hiring freeze absent of a comprehensive strategic plan will severely impede agencies’ efforts to acquire the proper staffing levels based on their established missions,” the trio wrote. “H.R. 657 and H.R. 1779, along with similar efforts to cap the federal workforce, fail to account for the services that agencies provide to taxpayers or the necessary personnel levels to effectively provide such services.”

Andrew Biggs of the American Enterprise Institute, also testifying before the Subcommittee, said a problem in analyzing the federal workforce is the lack of a model to compare it to. He argued it is difficult to say if it would be appropriate to reduce the workforce by a hard, arbitrary number; but he acknowledged there is also a danger that government officials could “study the issue to death,” which would be detrimental given the state of the budget and the rising national debt.

H.R. 657
Rep. Cynthia Lummis [R-WY]

Cosponsors:
Todd Akin [R-MO2]
Marsha Blackburn [R-TN7]
Dan Burton [R-IN5]
Jeff Denham [R-CA19]
Scott DesJarlais [R-TN4]
John Fleming [R-LA4]
Bill Flores [R-TX17]
Trent Franks [R-AZ2]
Bob Gibbs [R-OH18]
John Gingrey [R-GA11]
Louis Gohmert [R-TX1]
Paul Gosar [R-AZ1]
Ralph Hall [R-TX4]
Dean Heller [R-NV2]
Tim Huelskamp [R-KS1]
Samuel Johnson [R-TX3]
Steve King [R-IA5]
Jack Kingston [R-GA1]
John Kline [R-MN2]
Doug Lamborn [R-CO5]
Kenny Marchant [R-TX24]
Mick Mulvaney [R-SC5]
Pete Olson [R-TX22]
Bill Posey [R-FL15]
Scott Rigell [R-VA2]
Phil Roe [R-TN1]
Todd Rokita [R-IN4]
Peter Roskam [R-IL6]
Jean Schmidt [R-OH2]
Aaron Schock [R-IL18]
Addison Wilson [R-SC2]
Rob Bishop [R-UT1] (withdrawn)

Did you notice what party is standing behind this? Cutting government spending sounds good because no one wants to pay taxes but part of the taxes we pay takes care of the men and women serving this country everyday and veterans injured serving it yesterday.

What would make them want to do this especially to veterans in a time when two wars are producing more and more wounded topped off with the new claims coming in for Agent Orange and older veterans with PTSD? Is outsourcing still their goal?

But none of this is really that new. There is a dangerous game being played behind the backs of veterans expecting to get the "best care possible" after their service to this country. Maybe they think if they just break the VA their plan to turn it over to private, for profit corporations will happen and their rich buddies will fund them getting back into office?

VA Diverted Healthcare Funds for Illegal Studies
December 4, 2005
Funds were diverted from veterans’ healthcare to pay for studies on outsourcing jobs and closing VA hospitals – The dismantling of the VA is leading to privatization

by Larry Scott


One of the maxims of the Bush administration is: Never let the law get in your way. The political appointees who run the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA) certainly know how to play by those rules.

Between 2001 and 2004 the VA illegally diverted funds earmarked for veterans’ healthcare to pay for studies on outsourcing jobs at VA facilities and to fund other studies on closing VA hospitals. The report detailing the VA’s misdeeds was released last week by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). (The full GAO report is available here -- http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06124r.pdf )

The VA officially denies any wrongdoing. VA Secretary Jim Nicholson argued, "Congress clearly did not intend to preclude all manner of cost analysis necessary for the day-to-day administration of our health-care system …” However, Congress did pass legislation in 1981 that prohibits the diversion of funds appropriated to VA medical care accounts for studies on the cost of keeping work in-house versus that of contracting it out.

During the time VA officials were misappropriating funds they were working with Republicans in Congress to try to change the 1981 law that they were breaking. Senator Larry Craig (R-ID), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, introduced legislation (S. 1182 Sec 7) to do away with the prohibition and allow the VA to spend healthcare funds on outsourcing studies.

Also during this time the VA asked Congress for funds to conduct outsourcing studies. The amounts ranged from $16 million to $50 million. The VA was turned down every time. Since the VA couldn’t get the funds, they just broke the law.

It takes two years to train processors to do it right. Even if the VA was exempt in every state from hiring workers today, it would take two more years before they would be able to address the backlog pile. Maybe this is what they had planned for all along?

McCain defends VA health proposal
Aigne Treworgy
NationalJournal.comAugust 27, 2008

PHOENIX -- Although much attention this past week has been focused on political conventions and running mate selections, one of John McCain's only campaign events involved a somewhat defensive speech to a group that many consider a big part of his base. Following up on an appearance at the Disabled American Veterans convention in Las Vegas two weeks ago, McCain addressed the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Florida last week and responded to the allegation that his veterans' health care plan is a step towards privatizing veterans' health care.
For many months, McCain has proposed giving every veteran a "plastic card" to be used for the treatment of routine health care needs outside the Veterans Affairs system. In March, McCain held a town hall at a VFW in Chula Vista, Calif., and used a line he had repeated throughout his campaign to promise the audience he would fix the VA health care system.
"The thing that disturbs all of us is that for a routine health care need, too often someone goes down to the VA and stands in line to stand in line to get an appointment to get an appointment," McCain said at the time. "My friends, that's not right, and what I intend to do as president is for a routine health care need I intend to give a veteran a plastic card" which he or she would take "to the doctor or the health care provider of their choice and never have to stand in line to stand in line again."

And almost before McCain's speech was over, the Obama campaign had released a statement from the chairman of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee, Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Texas, fulfilling the GOP senator's predictions.

"Not only has John McCain repeatedly voted 'no' on needed funding for veterans supported by the VFW, American Legion and Disabled American Veterans, he has now come up with a plan to privatize VA health care that the Disabled American Veterans is saying would be a disservice to veterans," Edwards' statement read.

Why would they want to do this? There is a lot of money to be made by corporations if they take it over. For example, here's a look at the 2010 budget proposal.

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

www.va.gov

2010 Budget: $112.8 billion (total including collections) – $55.9 billion in discretionary funding (including collections) and $56.9 billion in mandatory funding

Enacted 2009: $97.7 billion (total including collections) -- $50.4 billion in discretionary funding (including collections, not including ARRA funds) and $47.3 billion in mandatory funding
To honor America’s veterans and expand the services they receive, the Fiscal Year 2010 budget increases funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs by $25 billion over the next five years. The budget includes an 11 percent increase in resources for a discretionary funding level of $55.9 billion. The budget increases health care funding for veterans, enabling the VA to provide timely, high-quality care to 5.5 million veterans, develop Centers of Excellence, and enhance access to mental health and cognitive care. It also restores health care eligibility for modest-income veterans, steps up investment in technology for the delivery of services and benefits to veterans, and provides improved benefits for veterans who are medically retired from active duty. The budget provides for a collaborative pilot program with non-profit organizations to help veterans avoid homelessness, and for the timely implementation of the Post-9/11 GI Bill to Americans who have served the country though military duty.

INCREASED FUNDING AND EXPANSION OF BENEFITS

Increases funding for VA by $25 billion above the baseline over the next five years. The President’s budget takes the first step toward increasing funding for VA by $25 billion during the next five years in order to honor our nation’s veterans and expand the services they receive.

Dramatically increases funding for VA health care. This increase will provide adequate resources to give 5.5 million veteran patients timely and high-quality care. This funding also enables VA to create Centers of Excellence and provides additional veteran-oriented specialty care in areas including prosthetics, vision and spinal cord injury, aging, and women’s health.
Restores health care eligibility for modest-income veterans. The President’s budget expands eligibility for VA health care to non-disabled veterans earning modest incomes. This expansion will bring more than 500,000 eligible veterans into the VA health care system by 2013 while maintaining high-quality and timely care for the lower-income and disabled veterans who currently rely on VA medical care.

Provides greater benefits for veterans who are medically retired from active duty. For the first time, highly disabled veterans who are medically retired from service will be eligible for concurrent receipt of full disability benefits from VA in addition to Department of Defense retirement benefits.

Enhances outreach and services related to mental health care and cognitive injuries with a focus on access for veterans in rural areas. VA will increase the number of Vet Centers and mobile health clinics to expand access to mental health screening and treatment in rural areas. In addition, new funding will help veterans and their families to stay informed of these resources and encourage them to pursue needed care.
TECHNOLOGY FOR IMPROVED SERVICE DELIVERY

Invests in better technology to deliver services and benefits to veterans with the quality and efficiency they deserve. Through improved electronic medical records, VA will more efficiently retrieve active duty health records from the Department of Defense and enable all VA care sites to access the records of veterans needing care. VA will also invest in the development of rules-based electronic processes to increase accuracy, consistency, and timeliness in veterans’ receipt of benefits.
COMPREHENSIVE EDUCATIONAL BENEFITS

Facilitates timely implementation of the comprehensive education benefits veterans earn through their dedicated service. This budget provides the resources for effective implementation of the Post-9/11 GI Bill -- providing unprecedented levels of educational support to the men and women who have served our country through active military duty.
SAFEGUARDING VULNERABLE VETERANS

Combats homelessness by safeguarding vulnerable veterans. The President’s budget expands VA’s current services to homeless veterans through a collaborative pilot program with non-profit organizations. This pilot will help to maintain stable housing for veterans who are at risk of falling into homelessness while helping VA to continue providing them with supportive services.

White House Seeks $125 Billion for Veterans in 2011
Homelessness, Claims Increases and Access - Priorities for VA Budget

WASHINGTON – To expand health care to a record-number of Veterans, reduce the number of homeless Veterans and process a dramatically increased number of new disability compensation claims, the White House has announced a proposed $125 billion budget next year for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

“Our budget proposal provides the resources necessary to continue our aggressive pursuit of President Obama’s two over-arching goals for Veterans,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “First, the requested budget will help transform VA into a 21st century organization. And second, it will ensure that we approach Veterans’ care as a lifetime initiative, from the day they take their oaths until the day they are laid to rest.”

The $125 billion budget request, which has to be approved by Congress, includes $60.3 billion for discretionary spending (mostly health care) and $64.7 billion in mandatory funding (mostly for disability compensation and pensions).

“VA’s 2011 budget request covers many areas but focuses on three central issues that are of critical importance to our Veterans – easier access to benefits and services, faster disability claims decisions, and ending the downward spiral that results in Veterans’ homelessness,” Shinseki said.

Reducing Claims Backlog

The president’s budget proposal includes an increase of $460 million and more than 4,000 additional claims processors for Veterans benefits. This is a 27 percent funding increase over the 2010 level.

The 1,014,000 claims received in 2009 were a 75 percent increase over the 579,000 received in 2000. Shinseki said the Department expects a 30 percent increase in claims – to 1,319,000 – in 2011 from 2009 levels.

One reason for the increase is VA’s expansion of the number of Agent Orange-related illnesses that automatically qualify for disability benefits. Veterans exposed to the Agent Orange herbicides during the Vietnam War are likely to file additional claims that will have a substantial impact upon the processing system for benefits, the secretary said.

“We project significantly increased claims inventories in the near term while we make fundamental improvements to the way we process disability compensation claims,” Shinseki said.

Long-term reduction of the inventory will come from additional manpower, improved business practices, plus an infusion of $145 million in the proposed budget for development of a paperless claims processing system, which plays a significant role in the transformation of VA.

Automating the GI Bill

The budget proposal includes $44 million to complete by December 2010 an automated system for processing applications for the new Post-9/11 GI Bill. VA also plans to start development next year of electronic systems to process claims from other VA-administered educational programs.

The Post-9/11 GI Bill authorizes the most extensive educational assistance opportunity since the passage of the original GI Bill in 1944. Over $1.7 billion in regular Post-9/11 GI Bill benefit payments have been issued since the implementation of the program on Aug. 1, 2009. In 2011, VA expects the number of all education claims to grow by 32 percent over 2009, going from 1.7 million to 2.25 million.

“To meet this increasing workload and process education claims in a timely manner, VA has established a comprehensive strategy to develop industry-standard technologies to modernize the delivery of these important educational benefits,” Shinseki said.

Eliminating Homelessness

The budget proposal includes $4.2 billion in 2011 to reduce and help prevent homelessness among Veterans. That breaks down into $3.4 billion for core medical services and $799 million for specific homeless programs and expanded medical care, which includes $294 million for expanded homeless initiatives. This increased investment for expanded homeless services is consistent with the VA secretary’s established goal of ultimately eliminating homelessness among Veterans.

On a typical night, about 131,000 Veterans are homeless. They represent every war and generation, from the “Greatest Generation” to the latest generation of Veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. To date, VA operates the largest system of homeless treatment and assistance programs in the nation.

Targeting Mental Health, Preventing Suicides

“The 2011 budget proposal continues the department’s keen focus on improving the quality, access and value of mental health care provided to Veterans,” Shinseki said.

The spending request seeks $5.2 billion for mental health, an increase of $410 million (or 8.5 percent) over current spending, enabling expansion of inpatient, residential and outpatient mental health services, with emphasis on making mental health services part of primary care and specialty care.

The secretary noted that one-fifth of the patients seen last year in VA’s health care facilities had a mental health diagnosis, and that the department has added more than 6,000 new mental health professionals since 2005, bringing to 19,000 the number of employees dedicated to mental health care.

The budget request will enable the department to continue expanding its programs for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI), along with the diagnosis and treatment of depression, substance abuse and other mental health problems. Shinseki called PSTD treatment “central to VA’s mission.”

The proposed spending will continue VA’s suicide prevention program. Since July 2007, the department’s suicide prevention hotline has received nearly 225,000 calls from Veterans, active-duty personnel and family members. The hotline is credited with saving the lives of nearly 7,000 people.

Reaching Rural Veterans

For 2011, VA is seeking $250 million to strengthen access to health care for 3.2 million Veterans enrolled in VA’s medical system who live in rural areas. Rural outreach includes expanded use of home-based primary care and mental health.

A key portion of rural outreach – which shows promise for use with Veterans across the country – is VA’s innovative “telehealth” program. It links patients and health care providers by telephones and includes telephone-based data transmission, enabling daily monitoring of patients with chronic problems.

The budget provides an increase of $42 million for VA’s home telehealth program. The effort already cares for 35,000 patients and is the largest program of its kind in the world.

Serving Women Veterans

The 2011 budget provides $217.6 million to meet the gender-specific health care needs of women Veterans, an increase of $18.6 million (or 9.4 percent) over the 2010 level. Enhanced primary care for women Veterans remains one of the Department’s top priorities. The number of women Veterans is growing rapidly and women are increasingly using VA for their health care.

Shinseki said the expansion of health care programs for women Veterans will lead to higher quality care, increased coordination of care, enhanced privacy and dignity, and a greater sense of security among women patients.

Among the initiatives for women in the 2011 budget proposal are expanded health care services in Vet Centers, increased training for health care providers to advance their knowledge and understanding of women’s health issues, and implementing a peer call center and social networking site for women combat Veterans. This call center will be open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Delivering World-Class Health Care

During 2011, VA expects to treat 6.1 million patients, who will account for more than 800,000 hospitalizations and 83 million outpatient visits.

The total includes 439,000 Veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, for whom $2.6 billion is included in the budget proposal. That’s an increase of $597 million – or 30 percent – from the current budget.

The proposed budget for health care includes:

· $6.8 billion for long-term care, an increase of $859 million (or 14 percent) over 2010. This amount includes $1.5 billion for non-institutional long-term care;

· Expanding access to VA health care system for more than 99,000 Veterans who were previously denied care because of their incomes;

· $590 million for medical and prosthetic research; and

· Continuing development of a “virtual lifetime electronic record,” a digital health record that will accompany Veterans throughout their lives.

VA is requesting $54.3 billion in advance appropriations for 2012 for health care, an increase of $2.8 billion over the 2011 enacted amount. Planned initiatives in 2012 include better leveraging acquisitions and contracting, enhancing the use of referral agreements, strengthening VA’s relationship with the Defense Department, and expanding the use of medical technology.

Preserving National Shrines

“VA remains steadfastly committed to providing access to a dignified and respectful burial for Veterans choosing to be buried in a VA national cemetery,” Shinseki said. “This promise requires that we maintain national cemeteries as shrines dedicated to the memory of those who served this nation in uniform.”

The requested $251 million for cemetery operations and maintenance will support more than 114,000 interments in 2011, a 3.8 percent increase over 2010. In 2011, the department will maintain 8,441 acres with 3.1 million gravesites. The budget request includes $37 million to clean and realign an estimated 668,000 headstones and repair 100,000 sunken graves.

Building for the Future

$1.15 billion requested for major construction for 2011 includes funding for medical facilities in New Orleans; Denver; Palo Alto, Calif.; Alameda, Calif.; and Omaha, Neb. Also budgeted for 2011 are major expansions and improvements to the national cemeteries in Indiantown Gap, Pa.; Los Angeles; and Tahoma, Wash., and new burial access policies that will provide a burial option to an additional 500,000 Veterans and enhance service in urban areas.

A requested budget of $468 million for minor construction in 2011 would fund a wide variety of improvements at VA facilities.

Now while this all looks great, even if the congress provides funds for these efforts, if they don't have workers to process the claims, it will all seem like money wasted since veterans will continue to suffer in claims backlog hell. The average person will look at the money being spent along side of reports of veterans waiting for help we owe them and think it is a failure. They may end up thinking turning it all over to for profit companies is a good idea.

This "Pledge to America" hurt veterans but we weren't supposed to notice any of this.

We were also not supposed to notice that as congress holds hearings on the problems veterans have had to endure, we haven't heard any solutions. We weren't supposed to notice that as millions are spent on "Suicide Prevention" the number of suicides and attempted suicides have gone up. We weren't supposed to notice that even as the "Suicide Prevention Hotline" has seemed to be a "success" the number of desperate veterans increases when we should be asking why they even have to reach that level of pain suicide is seen as an option.

All in all, we've been deluded by a lot of talk and smiles but if you read this blog, even occasionally, you know the news has not been good for our veterans and now we all know why.

$70 million project but veterans still waited

When I write/talk about what went on over the last eight years, how there are some people in this country deciding they didn't want to talk about it, I have been deadly serious. This should have never, ever gotten as bad as it did and it wouldn't have if everyone in this country actually acted like adults, valued truth over spin and maybe spent some time tuning into CSPAN to actually find out what was really going on.

Now think of this. All this money allocated, veterans wait even longer and who was in charge when all of this was happening? Read this and if your blood is not boiling, then keep reading.

Report: No oversight for $70M program at VA

By Kimberly Hefling - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Aug 27, 2009 17:22:40 EDT

WASHINGTON — The inspector general for the Veterans Affairs Department says that agency managers were aware of serious problems with a $70 million project to replace its hospital appointment system several years before the VA dropped the program.

The VA announced the project in 2000 after complaints from veterans about long waits to make appointments. It was halted this year.

The inspector general says that managers didn't take timely and appropriate action to address problems, even as millions more were put into the program.

VA Secretary Eric Shinseki has since ordered improvements in the VA's information technology management. But the IG says that the VA still needs more qualified staff.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/08/ap_va_oversight_082709/

But 2003 there was still a huge problem going on.

H.R. 3094, the “Veterans Timely Access to Health Care Act”
H.R. 3094 would establish standards of access to care within the VA health system. Under the provisions of this legislation, the VA will be required to provide a primary care appointment to veterans seeking health care within 30 days of a request for an appointment. If a VA facility is unable to meet the 30-day standard for a veteran, then the VA must make an appointment for that veteran with a non-VA provider, thereby contracting out the health care service. The legislation also requires the Secretary of the VA to report to Congress each quarter of a fiscal year on the efforts of the VA health system to meet this 30-day access standard.

Access is indeed a critical concern of PVA. The number of veterans seeking health care from the VA in recent years has risen dramatically. Since 1995, the number of veterans enrolled in the VA has risen from approximately 2.9 million to more than 5 million. Despite the Secretary’s decision to close enrollment of Category 8 veterans earlier this year, the numbers of enrolled veterans only continues to increase as we begin adding new veterans from the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Unfortunately, VA health-care resources do not meet the increased demand for services and the system is unable to absorb this significant increase. With tens of thousands of veterans on a waiting list, waiting at least six months or more for care, VA has now reached capacity at many health-care facilities and closed enrollment to new patients at many hospitals and clinics. Additionally, VA has placed a moratorium on all marketing and outreach activities to veterans and determined there is a need to give the most severely service-connected disabled veterans a priority for care.

To ensure that all service-connected disabled veterans, and all other enrolled veterans, are able to access the system in a timely manner, it is imperative that our government provide an adequate health-care budget to enable VA to serve the needs of veterans nationwide. Access standards without sufficient funding are standards in name only. PVA is concerned that contracting health care services to private facilities when access standards are not met is not an appropriate enforcement mechanism for ensuring access to care. As we stated with regard to H.R. 2379, paying for contract care out of an already inadequate VA health care appropriation draws even more resources away from the funds needed to pay for VA’s core services. Likewise, contracting out to private providers will leave the VA with the difficult task of ensuring that veterans seeking treatment at non-VA facilities are receiving quality health care. We do think that access standards are important, but we believe that the answer to providing timely care is in providing sufficient funding in the first place in order to negate the impetus driving health care rationing. For these reasons, PVA cannot support H.R. 3094.

PVA appreciates the efforts of this Committee to ensure that veterans receive timely access to care. However, we must emphasize that the VA will continue to struggle to provide timely access without adequate funding provided by this Congress. We look forward to working with this Committee to ensure that veterans not only receive timely access to care, but high quality care as well.
PVA would like to thank you for the opportunity to testify today. I would be happy to answer any questions that you might have.
read more here
http://veterans.house.gov/hearings/schedule108/sep03/9-30-03/cblake.html

Oh but that's not all. While some people in this country were fully supporting their elected just because they said they supported and cared about veterans, this is what was going on.

This was from 2005.

Snapshot of How VA Budget Shortfall is Hurting Veterans’

Access to Safe and Timely Care across the Nation



The VA claims that by shifting funds dedicated to replace old equipment and conduct maintenance the department can address its budget shortfall and meet veterans’ demand for timely, high–quality health care. The following snapshots from across the nation reflect the stark reality of the budget shortfall on veterans’ access to safe, high quality care.



The 3 surgical operating rooms at the White River Junction VAMC in Vermont had to be closed on June 27 because the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system was broken and had not been repaired due to the siphoning of maintenance funds to cover the budget shortfall.


The VAMC in San Antonio could not provide a paraplegic veteran with a special machine to help clean a chronic wound because the facility did not have the equipment dollars.


The VAMC in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, closed its Geriatric Evaluation and Management Unit which does extensive case management to help elderly veterans increase their functioning and remain at home.


The Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs) needed to meet veterans’ increased demand for care in the North Florida/South Georgia VA Healthcare System have been delayed due to fiscal constraints. The Gainesville facility has made progress in reducing its wait lists, but as of April there were nearly 700 service-connected veterans waiting for more than 30 days for an appointment.


VA Medical Centers in VISN 16, which includes Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Louisiana and part of Texas, have stopped scheduling appointments for many veterans who are eligible for care, pending available resources.


Even though the VA Palo Alto, California, Health Care System has used $3 million in capital funds for operating needs, as of March 1 more than 1,000 new patients had to wait more than 30 days for a primary care appointment. A third of these new patients had to wait more than 3 months. More than 5,000 patients had to wait more than 30 days for a specialty care appointment. Roughly 1,400 had to wait more than 3 months.


The replacement of the fire alarm system at the Loma Linda VAMC in California won’t be done this year because the facility is using most of its capital funds to cover operating expenses.


The White River Junction VAMC in Vermont struggling with a $525,000 shortfall in its prosthetics budget.


Because the FY 2005 budget is inadequate, the facility has not been allowed to hire 3 additional mental health care staff and 3 additional Registered Nurses for the ICU. Nurses in the ICU have been forced to work double shifts, which this Committee has found to be an unsafe patient practice.



Even though the San Diego VAMC expects to exceed its goal in medical care cost collections, it will divert $3.5 million of non-recurring maintenance funds to partially cover operating expenses, and has delayed filling 131 vacant positions for 3 months. The facility has a waiting list for patients of 750 veterans.


Because the Iowa City VAMC had to shift maintenance funds and equipment funds to cover a FY 2004 million shortfall of $3.2 million in medical care expenses in FY 2004, the facility is facing severe infrastructure problems and a larger shortfall of $6.8 million in FY 2005 that puts patient care and safety at risk. The facility wanted to spend $950,000 in non-recurring maintenance funds last year to prevent a mechanical failure of the electrical switcher, which would close the facility, but was required to use those funds to cover a budget shortfall in medical care last year. As a result in FY 2005, the VA must divert $1.5 million of medical care funds to maintain the key electrical switchgear for the hospital.


Recently, a motor failed on a hospital bed, which the VA planned to replace but couldn’t because of the shortfall, causing a fire with the patient on the bed. Fortunately the patient was able to get out of the bed safely, but the facility was forced to expend $700,000 of medical care dollars to replace all the beds, which thanks to the diligence of VA staff lasted 7 years beyond their life expectancy. The facility could not use capital funds to replace the very old beds because the money had already been siphoned off to cover medical care.



To bring the shortfall down to $6.2 million the facility has delayed hiring staff for 4 months. The deliberate short staffing of nurses on the psychiatric ward – as a means to correct the budget shortfall -- has forced the VA to cut the beds available for treatment in half.



As a result of cost cutting measures to make up for the shortfall in FY 2005, the Portland, Oregon, VAMC is delaying all non-emergent surgery by at least six months. For example, veterans in need of knee replacement surgery won’t be treated because of the budget shortfall.


Since FY 2002, the Portland VAMC has had to use its equipment and non-recurring maintenance funds to cover medical care expenses. For FY 2005 the facility needed $13 million for medical and clinical equipment but only received $2 million.



The facility is reducing staff as a cost-cutting measure and is now short at least 150 hospital staff, including nurses, physicians, and social workers. As a result of budget cuts for staffing, the VA has cut the number of medical beds available to care for veterans.



Veterans in need of outpatient psychiatric treatment at the Portland facility are on a waiting list because of the budget shortfall.



The Biloxi, Mississippi, VAMC has diverted maintenance dollars to meet operating expenses for the past two years but the facility will not be able to balance its budget without reducing staffing levels at a time when the Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System has approximately 100 new veterans seeking enrollment each week.


Fifty percent of all the veterans receiving home health care through the San Antonio VAMC will now have to fend for themselves. This cost-cutting measure means that some 250 veterans, including those with spinal cord injuries, will no longer be provided this care.


The VA Connecticut Healthcare System is facing a major budgetary challenge of sending veterans to non-VA facilities for hospitalizations because the VA has a shortage of beds to care for veterans and staff.


Due to the budget shortfall, the VA facility in Bay Pines, Florida, has been forced to put veterans who have a service-connected illness or disability rating of less than 50% on a waiting list for primary care appointments. As of late April, some 7,000 veterans will be waiting longer than 30 days for a primary care appointment.

Prepared by the Democratic staff of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee
http://veterans.house.gov/democratic/budget/snapshot6-29-05.htm

Now put it all together and then try to remember a time when you heard about any of this on cable TV show you watch or the talk radio show you listen to. They thought you'd never find out. So are you finally getting the message that all of these false outrages are cover ups from people that just don't care about veterans but do care about power? As bad as these reports are, it only got worse. Do you still want to defend Republicans or Democrats no matter what they've done or do you now plan on defending veterans?

Bush's Veteran's Day Challenge with veto pen in hand

Bush's Veteran's Day challenge
Tuesday, October 23, 2007



Nearly three months ago, a bipartisan commission issued six practical recommendations to correct appalling flaws in the medical care our nation provides for its wounded and injured military personnel. Congress should respond with a bill to implement those reforms. And as President Bush urged last week, that legislation should be passed by Veterans Day.

That gives Congress nearly three more weeks to complete this task. Surely that should be enough time for lawmakers to make adjustments that they deem appropriate to the military health-care proposal sent to them last week by the White House. After all, revelations early this year about substandard care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington prompted widespread demands across party lines for a comprehensive transformation of the military health-care system — and prompted the president to appoint that commission.

During a news conference last week, Mr. Bush hailed that panel, led by former Kansas Sen. Bob Dole, who suffered devastating wounds of his own in World War II, and former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala. Citing the need for major reductions in "bureaucratic delay" and a new focus on Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD), President Bush said he's distressed when he sees wives sitting beside their husband's beds at Walter Reed not being supported by the government. "I'm concerned about PTSD, and I want people to focus on PTSD. And so we sent up a bill and I hope they move on it quickly. There's a place where we can find common ground."
click post title for the rest

Did Bush just take office or something?

House democrats were taking out their calculators at a budget hearing last month to figure out what they called the "real increase" in VA's health care budget after subtracting the funds from collections, retiree benefits and the proposed deductible. With those dollars subtracted from the request, democrats said there would barely be an increase at all over this year's funding, instead of the $2.7 billion being touted by the administration.

The veterans service organizations that make up the Independent Budget-AMVETS, Disabled American Veterans (DAV), Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) and the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW)-last month told Congress that for FY 2003 it recommends a medical care appropriation of $24.4 billion, an increase of $3.1 billion over this year's level.
go here for the rest of this
http://www.usmedicine.com/article.cfm?articleID=360&issueID=36

Summary of Budget

The President’s 2005 budget includes $67 billion for veterans’ benefits and services, $35 billion for entitlements, and $32 billion for discretionary programs under VA-HUD jurisdiction. This is $1.2 billion above 2004.

For veterans’ medical care, the budget proposes a total of $29 billion. This is just $700 million above 2004. The budget includes $2.4 billion in co-payments from veterans and collections from insurance, $700 million more than VA will collect in 2004.

So looking at the VA’s budget for medical care, most of the increase above last year is to be paid by veterans.
http://mikulski.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=220152

As you know, VA provides a uniform set of medical benefits to eligible
veterans. If sufficient resources are not available to provide care
that is timely and acceptable in quality, VA is required to restrict
medical benefits based on veterans' eligibility priorities.[Footnote 1]
VA also provides other services, such as nursing home care, to certain
veterans. VA's provision of medical care is dependent upon the
availability of appropriations. For fiscal year 2005, Congress
appropriated $31.5 billion for all of VA's medical programs, and VA
provided medical care to about 5 million veterans. During fiscal year
2005, the President requested a $975 million supplemental request for
that fiscal year and a $1.977 billion amendment to the President's
budget request for fiscal year 2006. In congressional testimonies in
the summer of 2005, VA stated that its actuarial model understated
growth in patient workload and services and the resources required to
provide these services.[Footnote 2]
go here for the rest of this
http://www.gao.gov/htext/d06430r.html

American Legion Commander: ‘I Blame Bush And Congress’ For Veterans Cuts
President Bush spoke to the American Legion today, claiming that “support of our veterans has been a high priority in my administration,” and that one of his priorities is “making sure that our veterans have got good, decent, quality healthcare.”


President Bush should save his rhetoric. In an interview with National Public Radio, even American Legion National Commander Paul Morin, a regular political ally of the White House, pointed out that Bush has consistently skimped on veterans funding. “We are not pleased with the budget for the military and for the VA hospitals for our veterans,” Morin said. “I blame the President and Congress for insufficient funding of the VA health care system.”

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN
A look at the facts back up Morin’s claims about Bush’s short-changing of veterans:
Bush plans to cut veterans health care after 2008. “The Bush administration plans to cut funding for veterans’ health care two years from now — even as badly wounded troops returning from Iraq could overwhelm the system. … Even though the cost of providing medical care to veterans has been growing rapidly — by more than 10 percent in many years — White House budget documents assume consecutive cutbacks in 2009 and 2010 and a freeze thereafter.”

Bush raises health care costs for veterans. For the fifth year in a row, Bush’s budget has attempted to raise health care costs on 1.3 million veterans, calling for “new enrollment fees and higher drug co-payments for some veterans.”

Bush administration has claimed veterans benefits are “hurtful” to national security. In 2005, the Wall Street Journal noted the growing cost of veterans benefits due to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Pentagon’s response was to complain that it would “rather use [the funds] to help troops fighting today.” “The amounts have gotten to the point where they are hurtful. They are taking away from the nation’s ability to defend itself,” says David Chu, the Pentagon’s undersecretary for personnel and readiness.
go here for the rest
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/03/06/morin-bush-va/

The truth is, Bush didn't want an increase enough to matter to the wounded. He warned congress about a veto if they increased funding enough to cover the wounded veterans.

White House warns Congress against hiking VA budget figure
01:00 AM EDT on Monday, July 2, 2007
Moves in Congress to give the Department of Veterans Affairs as much as $3.8 billion more than the Bush administration proposed has drawn an indirect veto threat from the White House.

“If Congress increases VA funding above the president’s request and does not offset this increase with spending reductions in other bills, the president will veto any of the other bills that exceed his request until Congress demonstrates a path to reach the president’s top line of $933 billion,” the Office of Management and Budget said in a statement.

The Veterans Affairs budget currently stands at $36.5 billion, and the administration has proposed raising it to $40.1 billion. In Congress, a conference committee is attempting to reconcile a House bill providing $3.8-billion beyond that with a Senate measure that would increase the administration’s proposal by $3.6 billion.

Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Texas, chairman of the House veterans affairs appropriations subcommittee, said, “This bill is about respect, and honors the promises made to our veterans with historic increases in funding to provide them the health care and benefits they earned when they put on our nation’s uniform.”
go here for the rest of this

http://www.projo.com/news/veteransjournal/
Veterans_column_02_07-02-07_F467EI0.2709637.html

And the problem kept getting worse

Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Kaine will not unveil specific plans until next month, but administration officials said the governor is eyeing the elimination of "several hundred" positions out of a workforce of 100,000 people. Kaine hopes many of the reductions can be achieved through attrition, but some layoffs are likely, Wagner said.

"It is really going to be very selective layoffs of selective people," she said.

Wagner said the administration might also have to reduce staff training, establish or increase some fees and reduce the frequency of regulatory agency inspections. Kaine is also considering paying for some construction projects with borrowed funds rather than cash.
go here for the rest
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/17/AR2007091701807.html

I would really like to know who he thinks he is fooling when all of this was reported, recorded and heard by the wounded veterans and their families. Is it because he thinks the rest of the country is not paying attention?

VA under scrutiny for veteran suicides

Veterans For Common Sense would not have to sue the VA if the VA did what they should have done under Nicholson. The veterans have been paying the price for his loyalty to the administration instead of them.

VA under scrutiny for veteran suicides
Monday, March 03, 2008 9:18 PM
By Vic Lee

There is pressure on the Veterans Administration to do more to prevent suicides. The number of vets returning from Iraq and taking their own lives is reaching an epidemic level. That's what veterans groups claim and they are taking the VA to court to force it to do more.

This is the first salvo of a major class action lawsuit filed by veterans groups, challenging what they call "the failure of the VA to properly treat returning veterans."

They say there are long waiting lists for veterans who need mental health care and a huge backlog of more than 600,000 disability claims. In the meantime, veterans are said to be committing suicide in unprecedented numbers.

Former Marine Guido Gualco fought in the late 80's in Operation Desert Storm. VA doctors failed to diagnose his PTSD until 2005 -- 14 years after he was discharged. It got so bad, he begged his friend to kill him.

"I was questioning God, 'why was I alive?' I didn't want to live," says Gualco.

Army specialist Tim Chapman was a Humvee gunner in the Middle East. He was discharged after he fell into a deep depression in 2006.

"I was sitting in Roseville with my gas on the pedal and I was going to drive my car off this cliff at a truck stop," says Chapman.

Paul Sullivan heads Veterans for Common Sense. He says the VA has failed to deal with the growing problem of veteran suicides.

"There are cases around the country of veterans who said they were suicidal in front of VA employees and they were placed on waiting lists and otherwise turned away," says Sullivan.
go here for the rest
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local&id=5996940

In 2004, there were already complaints about Bush's VA budget.

In a statement issued shortly after the budget was released, Edward S. Banas Sr., commander in chief of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, called the VA's health care spending proposal "a disgrace and a sham."

VA officials reply that spending for health care will increase under the budget, but that tough choices had to be made because of the soaring budget deficit and limits on spending.

With two occupations producing more wounded, the VA, under Nicholson, called for a reduction in staff at the VA instead of wanting to increase them.

According to John Gage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, the VA is calling for a reduction of 540 full-time jobs in the Veterans Benefits Administration, which handles disability, pension and other claims by veterans.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A24665-2004Mar2

What we saw was the GOP taking sides with Bush on this.

Senator Larry Craig

Senator Larry E. Craig, Republican of Idaho, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, said the Department of Veterans Affairs would need more than the $30.7 billion for medical care in Mr. Bush's budget just "to maintain current levels of service" in 2006.

Mr. Craig said at a committee hearing that the White House was seeking an increase of less than one-half of 1 percent in the appropriation for veterans' medical care. He also noted that the administration wanted to save $606 million by restricting eligibility for nursing home care.

Yet at the end of the report Craig came out with this.

Mr. Craig said he detected "unanimous concern on the part of this committee that the budget has some inadequacies." The need to provide care to veterans is increasing, he said, because improvements in military medicine are saving the lives of many service members whose injuries would have proved fatal in previous wars.

Congressman Steve Buyer

Representative Steve Buyer, Republican of Indiana, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, indicated he was open to the ideas. Laura J. Zuckerman, a spokeswoman for Mr. Buyer, said he saw the proposals as a way to "bring balance, fairness and equity into the system."

The president's budget would save $293 million by reducing federal payments for state-run homes that provide veterans with long-term care. It would also save more than $100 million with a one-year hiatus in federal spending for construction and renovation of such homes.

They were looking to save money instead of looking at the best way to care for our wounded veterans.

Again looking at cutting employees instead of adding them.

Dr. Jonathan B. Perlin, acting under secretary of veterans affairs, said the medical staff of the department would be reduced by 3,700 employees under the president's budget. About 194,000 employees now provide medical care.

Nicholson was showing what he thought about the veterans he was supposed to be taking care of.

Mr. Nicholson said the budget showed a strong commitment to veterans, but he added: "We have to make tough decisions. We have to set priorities."

And then we have this from the VFW

Dennis M. Cullinan, legislative director of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, told Congress that the federal programs for state veterans' homes dated to the Civil War.

"These cuts, at a time when demand for V.A. long-term care services is on the rise with a rapidly aging veteran population, are unconscionable and reprehensible," Mr. Cullinan said.

It was Senator Akaka and Senator Patty Murray taking the side of the veterans against the GOP in charge of the budgets.

Senator Daniel K. Akaka of Hawaii, the senior Democrat on the committee, said a goal of the proposed fees and co-payments was to make it "prohibitively expensive" for some people to use V.A. clinics and hospitals, which are widely respected for quality of care. The new charges, Mr. Akaka said, would lead more than 192,000 people to drop out of the veterans health care system.

Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, said, "Serving veterans is part of the cost of war, but there's not one dime for veterans" in the $81.9 billion request that Mr. Bush sent Congress on Monday to cover the costs of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
go here for the rest of this section
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/16/politics/16vets.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

What is more tellling about the attitude is that in 2001 the APA had already called for increases in mental health care in the VA. Keep in mind this warning came a month before 9-11. Before the invasion of Afghanistan. Before the invasion of Iraq.

Psychiatric News August 3, 2001
Volume 36 Number 15
© 2001 American Psychiatric Association
APA Wants VA Budget Increased To Meet Mental Health Needs
Christine Lehmann
APA and other mental health groups are recommending that a congressional oversight committee designate funds to be used by the Department of Veterans Affairs for psychiatric research and a continuum of outpatient services.

APA urged a congressional subcommittee that oversees the Department of Veterans Affairs to allocate more funds than President George W. Bush proposed in his Fiscal 2002 budget for mental health research and services.

APA recommended that an additional $50 million of the president’s proposed $51 billion VA budget be spent on establishing two new Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Centers (MIRECCs). APA also advocated that $100 million be designated annually in Fiscal 2002 to 2004 for veterans with serious mental illness.

The House Veterans’ Affairs Health Subcommittee heard testimony in June from mental health and veterans advocacy groups on the VA’s mental health, substance abuse, and homelessness programs. APA submitted a written statement.

The goal of the hearing was to ensure that the VA is complying with several mandates contained in a sweeping VA reform law enacted in 1996 (PL 106-262).
http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/36/15/4

The lack of attention on the needs of our veterans at a time when there are two combat operations creating more wounded is "unconscionable and reprehensible" because the cuts kept coming in staff. During a time when more was needed it turned out there were less doctors and nurses in the VA, less claims reps, than there was after the Gulf War. Think how many lives could have been saved had the VA been provided with all they needed to really take care of all the wounded.

The next time you hear the words "support the troops" consider who has really been supporting them and those who have not taken care of them. Consider who has been harming them and treating them as if they should be grateful to us instead of the other way around.
Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
http://www.namguardianangel.org/
http://www.namguardianangel.blogspot.com/
http://www.woundedtimes.blogspot.com/
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington

Warrior's lament as veterans

Webster says to lament is to to mourn aloud : WAIL
transitive senses 1 : to express sorrow, mourning, or regret for often demonstratively : MOURN
2 : to regret strongly

This video is about how the GOP tried to tie oil drilling to the bill that was supposed to take care of veterans. Very telling when you get right down to it. They put drilling first and caring for veterans as part of a political ploy in order to get it done. Too bad it wasn't the other way around. They never do seem to put veterans first or even fight for them. Just as McCain votes against them but wants to use them for their votes, so do a lot in the GOP, but the good thing is that there are a lot of people in the GOP who do really care.
Florida veterans beware of being used by McCain he votes against you

McCain claims to not match voting record
These are just two recent posts on the fact McCain keeps voting against veterans. Take the time to learn about what you're willing to pay to elected him just because he's a veteran.


If you think you'll be in better hands with the GOP in office then you should also think again. The VA and Military constuction bill that meant so much to so many, well the GOP tried to tie oil drilling to it. Watch this and learn.

Rep. Edwards: GOP Tries to Derail Vets Funding with Drilling
Edwards of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs denounces Republican ... Chairman Chet Edwards of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs denounces Republican attempts to derail critical military and veterans funding in order to try and pass drilling legislation that would do nothing to help with gas prices. Rep. Edwards reads the urgings of the veterans organizations not to meddle with the legislation in such ways on the floor, prompting boos from Republican Members

We can read post after post about how the veterans support McCain but when have you ever read a report about how McCain supports the veterans? It's because it is not true. Oh, sure, you'll read a blog or hear some talk radio host spout off about McCain saying this or that but you won't be able to find any proof of any of what they claim. That's the key hear. Always fact check what you hear because what you've seen will only be made worse if veterans keep making the same mistake over and over again assuming the Republican candidate will ever really give a damn when their history has not proven it.



I've heard a lot about rumors about Obama and to tell you the truth, they make me very sad. None of them are true but some of the rumors are coming from veterans who believe the claims are real without ever checking on any of them. I just posted this video on the side bar at the top of this blog. Take a listen to what Obama has to say about veterans and learn some truth.



[TRANSLATED] Barack Obama: Keeping Our Faith With Veterans (Full)
[TRANSLATED]

Barack Obama: Keeping Our Faith With Veterans (Full)
speech on veterans' affairs in Charleston, WV on May 12, 2008. These are his full remarks. ... barack obama charleston


But this fight for veterans is not new. Obama was hitting Bush, McCain and the GOP hard for what they did not do. We had two occupations producing more and more wounded but it took the Democrats to fight for veterans and not the Republicans.

Sen. Obama Critical of "Accounting Gimicks" in Bush VA Budget

from Sen. Obama's Press Office, Feb 16, 2006
WASHINGTON— U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) Thursday criticized President Bush’s budget request for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), saying it was rife with accounting gimmicks that inflated the funding Veterans would receive.

“Frankly, I’m disappointed that the VA continues to use the same accounting gimmicks that it has used for years to obscure the real implications of its budget requests,” Senator Obama said.

Obama said that while the President was touting his request for $3.4 billion in additional funds for veterans’ health, that figure includes as much as $1.9 billion in revenue and savings that did not exist.

“Last year, we found out that the VA was short $1.2 billion dollars for 2005 because of budget tricks and accounting problems,” Senator Obama said. “Given the VA’s history of stunning budget shortfalls, we owe our veterans an honest accounting of this budget request.”

The president’s budget includes $1.1 billion in savings from “management efficiencies,” that the Government Accountability Office recently reported did not materialize in years past. The budget also includes $795 million in savings and revenue from a proposal to increase fees and copayments that has been rejected three years in a row by Congress. Medical inflation and payroll costs will carve out an additional $1.2 billion of the increase.

“Let’s not fool ourselves - or our vets - into thinking that this ‘increase’ is as large as the White House would like us to think,” Senator Obama said.

Senator Obama also criticized specific cuts in the VA budget including:

New Fees for Veterans Making More than $26,000
For the fourth year in a row, the President is proposing higher health fees and drug co-payments for veterans' health care that would drive more than 213,000 veterans out of the VA system. The President would force veterans who do not have service-connected disabilities and make more than an average of $25,842 to pay a new $250 annual enrollment fee for their medical care and would double their drug co-payments from $8 to $15, for a 30 day supply.

Continuing Ban on Middle-Income Veterans
The President' plan continues the ban on new Priority 8 enrollments; this includes veterans making more than $25,842 without a service-related disability. Through this ban, the VA denied health care to 8,944 Illinois veterans last year. Nationally, more than 260,000 veterans were denied access to VA hospitals, clinics and medications last year. The VA's income cutoff varies by county. In Illinois, this averages $36,600 and ranges from a low of $27,350 in 36 rural and low-income counties to $40,250 in the Chicago area. The 2005 national average for a single veteran was $25,842.

Cuts Benefit Claim Staff
The FY 2007 request cuts 149 full-time benefit claims processors, despite an expected hike in claims over the next year. This will increase the time veterans will have to wait to get their claims finalized from 167 days in 2005 to 182 days in 2007.

Flatlines Funding for State Nursing Home Construction
The President’s budget flatlines funding for state nursing home construction. Illinois has 391,000 veterans 65 and older, but only four state nursing homes that together have waiting lists topping 920. It is clear that VA does not have the capacity to care for the greatest generation of American veterans.

Cuts Funding for Medical and Prosthetics Research
The President’s budget cuts medical and prosthetics research by $13 million, a 3.2 percent cut. The budget proposal would cut 96 VA research projects. Research is a key mission of the VA, helping advance care for veterans and attracting quality doctors into the VA system.
http://illinoischannel.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!B0DB128F5CD96151!478.entry

While men and women were coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan, where were the Republicans when they controlled the House and the Senate? Where were they when they were faced with devastating financial trouble because they were wounded, couldn't work and couldn't get their claims approved? Where were they when the VA was so understaffed and underfunded they had to turn veterans away? Were they fighting Bush to increase the budget of the VA to take care of them all? What do you expect from any of the ones who wouldn't stand up for veterans when they had the power to do should they retake control over the White House? Do you really think suddenly they will care just because there is a Vietnam veteran in the chair? Remember he's the same one who voted against veterans all these years so it's really likely that you may just lament even thinking of voting for him but it may be too late if you don't appreciated the importance of the issues veterans face and who has not been fighting for you.

Debunking the Debunking on VA Privatization

Debunk the FUBAR
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
April 7, 2018


Let us venture into this claimed "debunking" by the Chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee and debunk the FUBAR!

In 1998, VA’s budget was $42.38 billion. Considering that WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam and the Gulf War were over, Congress didn't seem to be too concerned about two more wars adding more disabled veterans into the system. 

Gee, do you think they would have planned for them when they sent them?

We had aging veterans seeking healthcare from the VA, some for the first time even though they had service-connected disabilities, some were too poor to pay for their care while not connected to their service, and the newer veterans being offered free healthcare for the first 5 years after discharge.


Report from the DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS, June 2, 1998

It operates
173 medical centers, 39 domiciliaries, 376 outpatient clinics, 131 nursing home care units, and 205 Vietnam Veteran Outreach Centers in the United States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the Republic of the Philippines, and provides for similar care under VA auspices in non-VA hospitals and community nursing homes and for visits by veterans to non-VA physicians and dentists for outpatient treatment. It also supports veterans under care in hospitals, nursing homes, and domiciliaries operated by 35 States.

These charts from the National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics will show the increase in the number of veterans in the system.

This is the background on the "Choice and Accountability Act of 2014"

$10 billion fund from which VA must pay for non-VA care furnished as part of the Choice Program. VA will provide a Choice Card to all Veterans who were enrolled in the VA health care system as of August 1, 2014, and to recently discharged combat Veterans

Military Times reported in 2017, the "Choice Program" was running out of money.

The program balance dropped from $2 billion at the start of March to less than $850 million this month. 
As a result, VA officials are asking to move around money from other outside care programs to cover the Choice program, the opposite problem lawmakers anticipated when they passed the extension. Committee ranking member Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., called the news upsetting. 
"For this to happen this late in the game is frustrating to me," he said. 
The news came as Shulkin presented Trump's plans for a $186.5 billion VA budget for fiscal 2018, nearly a 6 percent increase from current funding levels. The VA secretary said that includes $13.2 billion for outside care programs next year, a figure he says should be sufficient to meet department needs. 

So, while you will read about how much more money the VA is getting, consider how much of that money is going into the "Choice" veterans did not want to have to make...because Congress did not do their jobs after all these years!


Debunking the VA Privatization Myth
April 5, 2018

There is no effort underway to privatize VA, and to suggest otherwise is completely false and a red herring designed to distract and avoid honest debate on the real issues surrounding Veterans’ health care.

Facts Debunk the Privatization Myth: A Two-Decade Comparison

In 1998, VA’s budget was $42.38 billion.

VA’s 2018 enacted budget is more than four times that figure at $188.65 billion. In 1998, VA had 240,846 employees.

As of March 29, 2018, VA had 385,233 employees, a nearly 60 percent increase in 20 years. VA has increased its end strength by nearly 15,000 since the beginning of the Trump administration, from roughly 370,000 to 385,233 as of March 29, 2018. In 2000 VA had 1,110 medical facilities.

Today, VA has 130 more medical facilities, for a total of 1,240.

VA Community Care Has Existed for More Than 70 Years, and Has Nothing to Do with Privatization

VA has been offering community care since the World War II era, starting with the then-Veterans Administration’s Hometown Program that began in 1945.

As former Secretary Shulkin said, "No health care provider delivers every treatment under the sun. Referral programs for patients to get care through outside providers (known as Choice or Community Care at the VA) are as essential to the medical profession as stethoscopes and tongue depressors."

Currently, VA operates seven distinct community care programs. VA is working with Congress to merge all of VA’s community care efforts into a single, streamlined program that’s easy for Veterans and VA employees to use so the department can work with Veterans to coordinate their care with private providers when VA can’t provide the care in a timely way or when it’s in Veterans’ best medical interest.

The fact is that demand for Veterans’ health care is outpacing VA’s ability to supply it wholly in-house. And with America facing a looming doctor shortage, VA has to be able to share health care resources with the private sector through an effective community care program. There is just no other option and, once again, VA has offered this solution since the World War II era.

The Bottom Line on the Privatization Myth

"If we’re trying to privatize, we’re not doing a very good job,"..."We’ve gone from 250,000 employees in the VA in 2009 to 370,000 employees, and we’ve gone from a $93.5 billion budget to what the president’s asked this year is $198 billion. It sounds like we’ve been an utter failure if we’re trying to privatize." 
– House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Phil Roe

On the last part, he got that one right! They are utter failures on taking care of veterans~

President Obama allowed Congress to start this mess, instead of making sure that everyone knew how disgraceful this response to the needs of our veterans was!

UPDATE
Add this to that part.

Roseburg VA Interim Director Dave Whitmer believes it would be safer for patients suffering nighttime medical emergencies to visit their nearest non-VA hospital instead. He said the VA does have highly trained emergency doctors on staff overnight, but because there are fewer ancillary services during those hours, the nighttime emergency department functions more like an urgent care than a hospital.

Veterans Were Suffering Before 9-11

If You Haven't Been Appalled All Along, Blame Yourself
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 11, 2015

Today we remember what happened back in 2001. That one day started two wars and neither one has been paid for by anyone other than the troops, veterans and their families.

If you think any of this is new to veterans or the troops, just keep in mind the world existed before Facebook and your iPhone. It even existed before the internet but for the sake of those unwilling to think, here's some reminders.

President Clinton's VA Budget Washington Post February 2, 1999

The Department of Veterans Affairs will attempt to open new outpatient facilities and administer new medical programs with a proposed budget of $44 billion that has remained largely unchanged since the administration's 1997 balanced-budget plan.

The VA budget includes $18 billion in discretionary funds for medical care, including $250 million to cover a stepped-up program to combat hepatitis C as well as $50 million to aid homeless veterans and $106 million for alternative long-term care programs such as home health care. The budget also includes a proposal to allow payments for emergency care for certain veterans at non-VA hospitals and renews a request to allow the VA to collect Medicare payments for services provided to certain veterans.

This was from April 5, 2001 Staff cuts hurt quality of VA health care, union charges NextGov April 5, 2001

The quality of the Veterans Affairs' health care system is suffering because of shortages in its nursing staff and increased outsourcing, according to the largest federal employees' union. Cuts in the VA's nursing staff over the past five years coupled with the hiring of more contractors during the same period has lowered the quality of care in VA health centers, Bobby L. Harnage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said Tuesday during a House Veterans' Affairs subcommittee hearing.

"The veterans health care system is in a state of shock from the combined traumas of flat-line budgets, staffing cuts, bed closures, restructuring and contracting out," said Harnage.

From 1995 to 2000, the agency reduced its registered nurses by 10 percent, licensed practical nurses by 13 percent and nursing assistants by 30 percent. Since then, registered nurses and licensed practical nurses have taken on much of the work performed by nursing assistants, such as helping patients eat and bathe.

"Medications, basic care and critical medical interventions are delayed, forgotten or mixed up because staff are spread too thin," Harnage said. Harnage also said that the VA increasingly turned to contractors for medical services during the same time it downsized its own staff. The agency increased its use of contracted nurses and other medical professionals by 32 percent from 1995 to 2000, he said. Harnage recommended the agency support an initiative to create an employee education program that would help interested VA employees get their nursing degrees, reduce contracting out and end the practice of mandatory overtime for nurses.

In 2004 the debate going on in Congress shows what the trouble was leading to.

Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the amendment offered by the gentleman from Wisconsin, Mr. Obey, and I want to express my appreciation to the gentleman for recognizing the great need in the veterans' health care system.

I also want to state my opposition to some of the other measures we are considering today that would cap discretionary spending and reinstate pay-as-you-go measures through fiscal year 2009. These rules would have significant impacts on VA health care and many other domestic discretionary and mandatory programs.

This February, Veterans Affairs Chairman Chris Smith and I recommended that the budget committee add $2.5 billion to the President's request for VA discretionary programs. We agreed, on a bipartisan basis, that this was the bare minimum necessary to continue to operate current services in fiscal year 2005.

Mr. Obey's amendment adds the other half of the recommended funding that the House neglected to provide in passing its budget resolution.

This will ensure that veterans can rely upon the system created to serve their special needs rather than being subjected to increased copayments, new enrollment fees and the waiting lists for care that could reappear and worsen in the absence of adequate funding.

As dangerous as the budget proposed by the Administration for fiscal year 2005 is, the budget planned for future years is even more perilous for our veterans' programs. Ranking Member Spratt and I have produced a report to be released tomorrow that will identify some of the scenarios that could come from the planning guidance issued by the Office of Management and Budget.

Mr. EDWARDS

That philosophy was expressed by the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay), majority leader, on March 12, 2003: ``Nothing is more important in the face of war than cutting taxes.'' A direct quote.

That bizarre philosophy flies in the face of the basic American value of shared sacrifice during time of war. Can anyone imagine Franklin Roosevelt having stood here on December 8 of 1941 saying to the American people it is time to cut taxes, nothing is more important than that after Pearl Harbor? In World War II, fortunately, President Roosevelt did something different. He inspired all Americans to make sacrifices to support the war and our servicemen and -women, and it was the right thing to do.

Unfortunately, as we now face the war on terrorism, the Republican budget reflects the gentleman from Texas's (Mr. DeLay) flawed philosophy that tax cuts should trump sacrifice and services for veterans and military families during time of war. What is the result of this ideologically driven budget? First, the consequence is that this year's deficit is the largest deficit in American history. With massive unpaid-for tax cuts, we are borrowing billions of dollars to pay for the Iraqi war, and that means that young soldiers from my district at Fort Hood fighting in that war today will have to come home and help pay for it after the war is over. Billionaires living safely here at home, getting multimillion-dollar-a-year tax cuts while young soldiers have to fight for the war in Iraq and then pay for it. Where is the fairness in that?

To add insult to injury, the Republican budget pays for its tax cuts to the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans by reducing veterans health care and freezing military housing improvement programs. If the American people find out about this dirty little secret in the Republican budget, they will be outraged, as they should be. And as a representative of nearly 40,000 soldiers who fought in Iraq over the last 18 months, I am certainly outraged.

These are the facts: fact number one, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), Republican chairman of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, has said it would take $2.5 billion of increased VA health care spending just to keep from having to reduce veterans health care services because of health care inflation.

Fact number two: The Republican budget underfunds present services for VA health care by $1.3 billion. That means real cuts to millions of real veterans.

Fact number three: several weeks ago, on the same day the House Republican leadership voted to give Members of Congress a tax cut, they pushed through a Defense authorization bill that will freeze the most important military housing improvement program in American history. Over 24,000 military families will not receive the new housing they deserve. No new housing for thousands of military families, while we get thousands in tax cuts, we Members of Congress. Where is the fairness in that? Where is the American value in that?

But as usual, with everything covered by Facebook stalker reporters, they never seem to mention any of this. When it come to "support the troops" and "value veterans" it all boils down to Congress did a lot of talking but failed to start fixing. Now we have yet another round of politicians blaming the VA for what they failed to do even though Congress has been in authority over them all these years. But it wasn't just was being reported on what the Congress failed to do for veterans. It was also what they failed to do for the troops. This came out in 2008.


Military Doctors and Nurses, 2 wars to fight, less of them to provide care. Shortages could be hurting Army health care, Army Times January 12, 2008

Overall, the Army’s Medical Corps has downsized significantly since the Persian Gulf War in the 1990s, dropping from 5,400 to 4,300 physicians and from 4,600 to 3,400 nurses.

According to the Department of Defense, more than 29,000 service members have been wounded in action in Iraq or Afghanistan in the last six years, compared with fewer than 500 in Operation Desert Storm.

So when you get sick to your stomach finding out what has gone wrong for the troops and veterans, if you haven't been appalled all along, you simply haven't been paying attention.