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09 Nov 04 - 02:16 AM (#1321179) Subject: BS: Iraq vets waiting for benefits From: dianavan It looks like post traumatic stress has reared its ugly head once more. Believe me, it is very debilitating and can totally interfere with a person's ability to have a normal family life. To add insult to injury, vets are having a great deal of trouble receiving the treatment they need. http://www.freep.com/news/statewire/sw106869_20041108.htm How many lives will be ruined before people realize that there is no honour or glory in war. It just aint worth it! d |
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09 Nov 04 - 02:32 AM (#1321188) Subject: RE: BS: Iraq vets waiting for benefits From: mack/misophist Dianavan, IMHO, is correct in this particular case. However. Was Hitler worth stopping? Sometimes war is necessary. But not this time. |
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09 Nov 04 - 04:57 AM (#1321253) Subject: RE: BS: Iraq vets waiting for benefits From: GUEST So recruits join the armed forces. Then see some live action. Then become traumatised and ruin their own and families future? Psychological profiling before they are given the job may be useful. What do they really think their role is when they enlist? |
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09 Nov 04 - 05:31 AM (#1321265) Subject: RE: BS: Iraq vets waiting for benefits From: GUEST,Barry Finn & here I was thinking that all workers in this country were by law covered by worker's comp? Barry |
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09 Nov 04 - 08:16 AM (#1321334) Subject: RE: BS: Iraq vets waiting for benefits From: artbrooks A read of the article indicates that, for the most part, the veterans are receiving care for their medical conditions. The delays the article mentions relate to delays in processing "claims for benefits." I used to work in this branch of the VA...these are claims to have a particular condition declared "service-connected" and involve both financial benefits and lifetime medical care. These claims have taken about six months to get through the process for many years, not because they are particularly complicated or because many get disapproved and then appealed, but because that's just how long it takes the line to get to the door. The blame for these delays is principally related to staff shortages and these, in turn, are because when it is the VA's turn to have its budget cut, the money comes out of this branch (the Veterans Benefits Administration) rather than out of the medical care arm (the Veterans Healthcare Administration). |
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09 Nov 04 - 09:25 AM (#1321380) Subject: RE: BS: Iraq vets waiting for benefits From: Rapparee Sorry for the long post; the original documents are even longer. This is a sore point with me -- familially, personally, and in general. And Art, I'm not in any way denigrating the work done by the VA workers -- they're almost all real troupers working under sometimes awful conditions. --- From the website of Veterans For Peace: As of January 2003, at least 236,000 veterans were on a waiting list of six months or ore for a first appointment or an initial follow-up. Since 1999, the number of VA enrollees have increased to 6.3 million in 2003 from 4 million in 1999 an increase of nearly 20 percent annually. Based on VA's projection model, without any limitation on enrollment, that growth will continue, with enrollment peaking in fiscal year 2012 at approximately 8.9 million enrollees. The VA cannot meet the current need for medical services of our present veterans' population. The VA will be utterly unable to care for GIs returning from Iraq and Afghanistan without additional funding much less to care for them as they become the next generation of Veterans. Most VA medical centers average 52 years in service and are in critical need of repair. The departments of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Defense (DOD) have combined annual health care budgets of nearly $50 billion. They offer care at a total of more than 1,600 sites nationwide. There are over 300,000 personnel in both systems, treating nearly 12 million beneficiaries. From 1992 to 2003, average per-patient spending decreased from about $7,000 to about $4,200. Under Bush administration proposals, new "Priority 8" veterans with "non-service-related illnesses" and who make more than $26,000 a year will be locked out of the VA health care system Priority 8 vets already in the system will have to pay $250-a-year to stay in. Experts believe such a fee will drive many out of the VA system. SOURCES President's Task Force To Improve Health Care Delivery For Our Nation's Veterans, Final Report [May] 2003 [and others]. Then, from the American Legion (hardly a left-wing group!): ...The American Legion believes VA must be funded at a level that will ensure all eligible veterans have access to the VA health care system. The VA budget must reflect the true demand for care. Once again, the Administration attempts to place the burden of financing VA health care on the backs of veterans. The FY 2005 budget request contains provisions that would increase prescription co-payments and create an annual enrollment fee. These legislative initiatives target those Priority Group 7 and 8 veterans who are currently enrolled in the system. At the same time, VA continues to deny enrollment of any future Priority Group 8 veterans who could help shoulder this burden. These are the very veterans required to pay VA's co-payments and make third-party reimbursements for their health care. Rationing health care to America's veterans is not the solution to VA's accessibility crisis. The American Legion supports repealing the suspension of enrollment of Priority Group 8 veterans. We applaud the Administration efforts to alleviate co-payments for veterans receiving hospice care and former prisoners of war. The American Legion supports provisions within the budget request that would increase the income threshold from the Pensions level of $9,894 to the aid and attendance level of $16,509 for certain Priority Group 2-5 veterans. This would help reduce the pharmacy co-payment for those veterans struggling to meet the sky-rocketing cost of health care. In addition, The American Legion supports provisions to allow VA to pay for emergency room care at non-VA facilities for enrolled veterans. This will prevent any delays in treating life threatening injuries or illnesses for enrolled veterans not in close proximity to a VA facility. During visits to VA facilities under The American Legion's "System Worth Saving" initiative, Past National Commander, Ronald Conley discovered many VA facilities operated under a "divert" policy that imperiled veterans by denying them immediate access to health care. The American Legion is equally concerned with VA's continued efforts to create the new "VA Advantage" Medicare plan that would offer limited health care services to Priority Group 8 veterans 65 or older with Medicare Part B. Keep in mind that only nonservice-connected veterans who fall above the geographical means test and are Medicare-eligible will be considered under this proposal. Priority Group 8 veterans who are not Medicare-eligible will simply continue to be denied access to VA medical care. Indian Health Services and TRICARE for Life are classic examples of effective Medicare and Medicaid Federal partners. Since over half of VA's enrolled patient population are Medicare-eligible veterans, The American Legion strongly believes Congress should consider passing legislation to ensure VA is reimbursed for treatment of Medicare-eligible veterans for allowable, nonservice-connected medical conditions. The FY 2005 budget request must provide an adequate level of funding to eliminate the backlog of veterans waiting to receive care, to meet the needs of returning servicemembers who must now receive health care from VA, and to once again allow Priority Group 8 veterans to receive timely access to quality VA medical care through the very system created to meet their unique health care needs. |