Department Of Veterans Affairs: A Case Study

Another issue regarding the VA system is the limitations that is places on the abilities of the private sector to provide aid to Veterans. The private sector of the United States has no access to the files of former members of our military; as a result of this, a Veteran would potentially have to drive hours to get to a VA facility for something as simple as a flu shot. Veterans should be able to enjoy the benefits that they are entitled to without having to go a great distance. This very solution presents yet another conflict: the majority of returning military members are uninformed regarding what it is that they are medically entitled to. There is often far too little communication between VA facilities and Veterans concerning how they

Tarnished by lack of efficiency, communication and a vision are inconsistent and divided. My findings of evidence paralleled with my literature reviews because this issue is starting to emerge as a imminent threat to the structural failures that the veterans rely on. The LACK of justice is the primary value my stance emphasizes. As citizens, we are expected to follow guidelines, laws, and abide by or pay the consequences. Both the DoD and the VA have violated all agreements and initiatives to collaborate to form a larger accessible health care system and have neglected to take initiative. Veterans risk their lives to support the prosperity and freedom of the United States, and in return they are marginalized in a sense that provisions within these complex bureaucracies make it difficult for them to be treated. The Old Public Administration has proven to be a detriment to the purpose of the departments and raises the question as to whether the veterans they neglect are really a concern at

Throughout the history of the United States the government has felt a responsibility to care for those who defend the freedom of the United States. This responsibility is to make sure that our veterans have the best care possible when they return home from war. Since its establishment, the Veterans Affairs (VA) has come under fire from all angles, saying that they are not offering the best possible care for our Veterans. Throughout history yellow journalism has been found to destroy some organizations. The VA is an organization who has experienced the effects of yellow journalism and they are trying to recover. The VA is taking the yellow journalism and turning it into constructive criticism in order to improve their services for the United States Veterans.

Rates of trauma and mental illness are reported to be disproportionately higher among American veterans, especially those of the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The barriers to care after civilian reentry further disadvantage this already vulnerable population. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been the longest sustained US military operations since the Vietnam era, sending more than 2.2 million troops into battle and resulting in more than 6,600 deaths and 48,000 injuries. Veterans are at risk mental health challenges, as well as family instability, elevated rates of homelessness, and joblessness. Veterans have disproportionate rates of mental illness, particularly posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), substance abuse disorders, depression, anxiety, and military sexual trauma.

An assortment of complex issues has weakened the VA’s ability to deliver on its promise “to care for him who shall have borne the battle” (VA, 2015).

This is like a bomb waiting to go off: Family of veterans have to live with fear, hoping that their love one would recuperate, be happy, or simply a civilian again. The Veterans Affairs Department (VA) should put a better effort to better assist veterans, and their family with a better plan to reduce this preventable death. Many veterans find it difficult to admit, control, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), let alone reaching for help; when they do so, they are considered just another number at the VA. At any moment, a veteran?s sacrifice for this country should end

In 1917, as the United States entered World War I, Congress established a system that addressed Veterans benefits which included programs for disability compensation, insurance for service members and Veterans as well as rehabilitative treatments for those that were disabled (www.va.gov). Three years later, 3 separate federal agencies: the Veterans Bureau, Bureau of Pensions of the Interior Department and National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers were charged with administering these benefits and services (www.va.gov). Then, in 1930, President Herbert Hoover signed an Executive Order which consolidated these agencies to a federal administration level and created the Veterans Administration (www.va.gov). Almost seventy years later, in 1989, the Veterans Administration was then renamed the Department of Veterans Affairs (www.va.gov). The purpose for establishing the Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”) has always been, since inception, and remains to this day, to provide a comprehensive system of assistance for Veterans (www.va.gov). As noble a purpose as the VA was intended, the VA could not escape the bureaucratic dysfunction that has rocked the very core of the military community, the nation and the Western allies with outrage and an immediate call for remedy.

Josh Hicks, author at The Washing Post, says that the Veterans Affairs has an ongoing problem of delays in servicing veterans. “Phoenix VA hospital kept delays off the books with secret wait lists that allegedly included dozens of patients who died while waiting for care” (Hicks 1). “Several patients died at an Atlanta clinic because of mismanagement” (Hicks 1). “A Department clinic in Fort Collins, Colorado, falsified appointment records to give the impression that staff doctors saw patients within the agency’s goal of 14 days” (Hicks 1). In addition to these issues, other veterans waiting to hear if their disability claims had been approved for care were waiting in excess of 125 days without determination. Retired four-star Army General Eric Shinseki, serving

Over the past 15 years, the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) has seen a dramatic increase in the average degree of disability, growth in the number of compensation recipients, a rise in the number of medical issues claimed and an increased level of complexity of claimed issues. To illustrate this point, prior to the September 2011 terrorist attacks, 333,700 Veterans received compensation at the 70-100 percent level; however, these figures rose to over 1.1 million by the end of 2013. Additionally, since 2009, VA’s disability compensation workload rose 132 percent. This is in large part due to an unprecedented demand resulting from over a decade of war, military downsizing, economic issues, increased outreach, the addition of presumptive conditions and an aging Veteran population.

Current funding for veteran healthcare care is low and insufficient because of the large number of veterans, who are being discharged from the military as the country transitions to a democratic President. According to Dr. Rachel Nardin in her article about veteran healthcare, “Soldiers get excellent acute care when injured on active duty, but as revelations of poor conditions for soldiers receiving ongoing outpatient care at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center highlighted, service members often have trouble getting the care they need once active duty ends” (Nardin 1)

America has failed in providing quality physical and mental health care for veterans who do not have the money or the insurance to pay for it themselves. This paper will attempt to uncover approximately how many veterans actually fall through the cracks by asking simple questions; how many are homeless, how many report having PTSD, how many have a substance abuse disorder, how many end up in divorce because of domestic violence?

The Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) has been tasked with providing support and benefits to Veterans after they have completed their service. However, many Veterans are reporting difficulty accessing care due to systematic barriers within the VA’s Veterans Health Administration (Oliver, 2007). Complex eligibility requirements, long wait lists and lack of providers are a few of the issues Veterans are faced with when trying to access health and mental health care. Additionally, studies indicate that veterans, predominantly those from the recent wars in Iran and Iraq, have disproportionately high amounts of mental illness (Shim & Rust, 2013). These same veterans are experiencing difficulty accessing mental health care due to issues around a backlog of healthcare eligibility applications and a shortage of mental health providers through the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), which operates the Nation’s largest, integrated health care delivery system (APA, 2014). In 2014, at the request of the Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) evaluated the merit of the allegations of mismanagement at the Veterans Health Administration’s (VHA) and the Health Eligibility Center (HEC).

There has been an increase in veterans, approximately 107,000 whom are unemployed and homeless, while 1.5 million veterans are poverty and homeless. These veterans live in various dismal conditions suffering from disorders while lacking social support. (National Coalition for Homeless Veterans) This epidemic attracts the attention of politicians, sociologists, etc. whom are unconcerned with the fate of veterans in America. Professor Tull, insisted that to resolve the problem, he argued that the main reason for homelessness was that the veterans had PTSD which had negative influences. (Tull) This reason is that the PTSD should be treated with various ways, such as cognitive-behavioral treatment, which unfortunately some veterans can’t handle

Hundreds of thousands of United States veterans are not able to leave the horrors of war on the battlefield (“Forever at War: Veterans Everyday Battles with PTSD” 1). Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the reason why these courageous military service members cannot live a normal life when they are discharged. One out of every five military service members on combat tours—about 300,000 so far—return home with symptoms of PTSD or major depression. According to the Rand Study, almost half of these cases go untreated because of the disgrace that the military and civil society attach to mental disorders (McGirk 1). The general population of the world has to admit that they have had a nightmare before. Imagine not being able to sleep one

According to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, there are more than 1,500 locations to receive treatment and care across the country, which divides up to approximately 30 locations per state. The lack of locations may limit some veterans from receiving the care they desire. “Veterans who utilize VA services have worse health status that the general population” (Nelson, Taylor, Lurie, Escarce, McFarland, & Finn, 2011). This implies that the services offered are not sufficient enough to meet the needs of veterans. According to Jack Downing, President and CEO of Soldier On, “Seventy percent of veterans drive twenty-five miles or more to a VA facility.” These facts prove that we need more access for veterans so that they can get the