House passes $17 billion emergency funding bill for VA
Stars and Stripes
By Travis J. Tritten
Published: July 30, 2014
WASHINGTON – The House overwhelmingly passed a $17 billion emergency bill Wednesday that brings comprehensive reform of the troubled Department of Veterans Affairs health care system one step closer to reality.
The 420-5 vote shifted all attention toward the Senate, where a floor vote had yet to be scheduled with only days left before Congress leaves for its August recess.
Lawmakers struck a last-minute deal Monday that would inject $10 billion into expanding veteran access to outside health care providers and $5 billion into hiring new medical staff to ease long wait times at VA hospitals and clinics across the United States.
Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., who negotiated the legislative deal for the House, said veterans are suffering – some dying – in a VA health care system rife with widespread corruption and delays in care. He said the bill is progress toward relieving their pain and straightening out institutional dysfunction.
“The passage of this [bill] will improve access to care and accountability in a desperately broken bureaucracy,” said Miller, who chairs the House Veterans Affairs Committee.
The legislation would create a $10-billion Veterans Choice Fund in the U.S. Treasury that could be tapped to fund private treatment when beneficiaries cannot get a VA health care appointment within two weeks or live more than 40 miles from a VA facility.
read more here
Gloves came off a long time ago because it just got too sickening to listen to a bunch of politicians talk about what they were "fixing" while listening to veterans on how long they've been waiting for the "fix" to happen.
Think any of this is new? Ya right. If you do then you deserve a bronx cheer too. None of this is new! Members of congress knew it the beginning of this year, last year, the year before that and hell, decades before that but for all the talk and all the money spent, they still don't have a clue.
This did not just happen but it sound like it did given recent reports.
Executive director Hal Dulle of the state veterans commission says too many veterans have to wait too long to be accepted in the Veterans Administration system and then have to wait too long to get the medical help they need.
He says, his office works to get veterans to file for their benefits but the VA lacks the personnel to handle the paperwork efficiently. Dulle says the system isn't broken. He says it just doesn't have enough people to handle the increased number of veterans applying for services. The heavy burden is caused by an influx of Gulf war veterans seeking benefits at the same time many Vietnam veterans have decided after 40 years of not being involved...to sign up.
But once the paperwork is processed and the veteran is in the system----there's a lack of doctors. Dulle says part of that problem is that the VA has limited funds...and in a competitive world, the VA has trouble paying enough to keep the specialists the veterans want to see from going into private practice.
VA in crisis again as it was back in 2007 when that report came out.
Patients dying,,,not new either. It was happening after they turned to the VA for help with PTSD and ended up committing suicide. Much like what is still going on today with 57% of veterans committing suicide after they sought help.
Joseph Dalpiaz, director of the VA North Texas Health Care System, ordered the shutdown after a man hanged himself April 4. The hospital stopped admitting patients to its 51-bed psychiatric unit the next day; 10 previously admitted veterans are still being treated there.
Dalpiaz "decided he wanted to ... give us some time to assess the environment of care and make sure things were as safe as possible in our patient unit," said Dr. Catherine Orsak, head of mental health for the VA's North Texas health system.
She said the hospital has increased staffing and checks to ensure the safety of the patients still being treated.
In January, two men who met in the hospital's psychiatric ward committed suicide days after being released. In February, a veteran in the ward hanged himself on a frame attached to his wheelchair.
Orsak said the hospital has spent more than $250,000 the past six months to eliminate suicide risks. Door knobs were replaced, shower curtains and plumbing were retrofitted, and light fixtures were modified to remove rigid outcroppings veterans might use in hanging themselves.
That came out in 2008.
A VA doctor was the subject of lawsuits and hearings in 2008 when this came out about how many veterans were committing suicide.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said Dr. Ira Katz, the VA's mental health director, deliberately withheld crucial information on the true suicide risk among veterans.
"Doctor Katz's irresponsible actions have been a disservice to our veterans, and it is time for him to go," said Murray, a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. "The number one priority of the VA should be caring for our veterans, not covering up the truth."
Murray and other Democratic senators said they were appalled at e-mails showing Katz and other VA officials apparently trying to conceal the number of suicides by veterans. An e-mail message from Katz disclosed this week as part of a lawsuit that went to trial in San Francisco this week starts with "Shh!" and refers to the 12,000 veterans per year who attempt suicide while under department treatment.
This was out in 2011 when the VA was understaffed and not prepared to treat all the veterans for PTSD.
"Last year, more than 1.2 million veterans were treated by the VA for a mental health problem, including 408,000 with a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder. By comparison, 934,000 were treated for mental health problems four years earlier."
A survey of social workers, nurses and doctors working for the Department of Veterans Affairs finds that more than 70 percent of respondents think the department lacks the staff and space to meet the needs of growing numbers of veterans seeking mental health care.
More than 37 percent of the 272 respondents say they cannot schedule an appointment in their clinics for a new patient within the 14-day standard mandated by the department, according to the survey, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post.
The survey was requested by the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs after a hearing this summer at which veterans diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health issues described long waits for treatment that could raise the risk of suicide. On average, 18 veterans commit suicide every day, according to the VA.
Now maybe you know why were are not clapping with all fingers right now. Maybe now you know why the veterans community isn't doing much more than a Bronx cheer.
