Health Care For Veterans Essay

The New York Times article, “Wait Lists Grow as Many More Veterans Seek Care and Funding Falls Far Short” says the Department of Veterans Affairs agency has a new crisis they’re facing. The wait list of Veteran’s is more than 50% higher than it was last year, departments say. They are also facing nearly a $3 billion budget short, which could very well affect the care of our veterans.

They claimed Iraq and Afghanistan veteran polls have been taken, it shows that whatever improvements and actions being were taken were not enough. Fifty-nine percent of the people rated the job the government was doing to help was good, while fifty-six percent rated it as them doing poorly. In an article by CNN news nineteen veterans have died because of delays for medical treatments from the Veterans Affair. Those nineteen veterans were only a small proportion of that group. A number of eight-two veterans who have died because of delays for medical treatments like colonoscopies or endoscopies. Some people like my father (Jason McLain), who is a retired veteran, believes that some doctors have their own personal bias toward veterans. Jason McLain stated, “When I go to the VA they do not help me as soon as I need their help. Although when I go to any other civilian doctor’s office they help me right away with any of their help”. A website by the name of Free Grants Community stated that success and failures of the Departments of Veterans Affair are frequently the subjects of political promises and debates. There are many places that can help with benefits or homelessness, simply anything veteran(active/retired) need. A six-year veteran stated that there are places to help but emphasizes that you have to pursue yourself. After you are done with the military to go back to school and to keep getting educated. Besides the fact the regular ordinary citizens complain that veterans are not getting enough help, there have been complaints against all employers for discrimination has blames the economic crisis and ballooning deficits for the inability to provide for more

In today's society where opinion matters, people have been extremely vocal about the lack of support the government has provided to our veterans. Many feel as if the government should do more, while others feel as if they are doing enough. Everyone will have a difference of opinion no matter if they have severed in the military or not. No matter how one may feel, is extremely important to take care of our veterans. As they have sacrificed their lives, time, and family to protect our country. Contrary to one's belief, the government provides a substantial amount of programs, which support the veterans. Honestly more could be done. On any given day you could see women and men standing on the corner holding signs implying they are homeless veterans and will work for food. A few programs the government offers our veterans are funding for mental health services, The Wounded Warrior Project and Vocational Rehabilitation and Education, which will be discussed throughout this essay. When you research the programs, they make it sound as if all proceeds are going towards the best treatment and care money could buy.

The main research questions in this study are: 1) is veteran healthcare equal to private healthcare; 2) do veterans have to wait longer for treatment options; and 3) do veterans have limited treatment options? It is hypothesized that veterans receive inferior healthcare services compared to private healthcare and the community is unaware of the disparities.

In the past few years there has been increasing discussion about how to provide adequate care for the increasing number of veterasn who are eligible for care through the Veterans’ healthcare administration (VHA). There are concerns is that the VHA is not providing the level of access, efficiency, and quality of care that veterans expect. Lee & Begley, (2016) suggest access to care for the veteran population may be resulting in poor health outcomes. In response to these concerns, the Veterans ' Access to Care through Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act (VACAA) of 2014, also known as the Veterans Choice Act, was created to improve Veterans’ healthcare. The VACAA proposed to do this by expanding the number of options veterans have for receiving healthcare, by providing access for healthcare at non-VA care centers as well as providing for an increase in staffing at VA facilities (U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2016).

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)

The problem that the numerous senators are having with The Department of Veterans Affairs is that since November 2014 has only authorized 30,000 patients or 0.37 percent out of 8.5 million cardholders to receive non VA care. This is due they believe to the VHA being too strict on their eligibility criteria “We need to make it easier, not more difficult, for veterans to get the care they need and earned, regardless of whether they live in a rural area or a big city. I am going to continue to press the VA to ensure that this happens,” Toomey, R-Lehigh Valley.

The Veterans Affair has always claimed to take pride in their timeliness care. What they were not offering was the truth about how they were getting these numbers. They were changing the dates on paper work and falsely recording in the database. The patient’s charts were altered in order to lessen the effect of their conditions, along with performing useless procedures to make the time seem more favorable. Schedulers were pressured into using unofficial waitlist and other inaccurate paper work in justifying these wait times. It has been proven that the extended waiting periods have led to many deaths within the Veterans Affairs care system. An incident surrounding the wait was when “Thomas Breen, a 71-year-old U.S. Navy veteran, With a history of bladder cancer, Breen called his Veterans Affairs hospital in Phoenix for a follow-up appointment. He had to wait months to receive treatment. In the meantime, his family took him to a private hospital where he was diagnosed with bladder cancer”(Hankel,1). Thomas Breen had passed away before ever hearing back from his Veterans Affairs hospital. This story is important in understanding that the wait times for the Veterans Affair program are causing deaths in our Veteran population. This story allows one to understand how long the wait times could be for this care, but the question aroused from this is what is allowing the Veterans

Throughout history, citizens have seen the need to care for those who have defended their freedoms. Research shows veteran’s assistance programs dates back to the early settlement of the colonies that would later become the United States of America. In the year 1636, the Pilgrims, who were at war with the Pequot Indians, passed a law that stated they would take care of the disabled veterans who had fought in that conflict.

However, he Veterans for America have taken to a less popular choice. Instead of completely doing away with the VA, the Veterans for America request a change in them instead. The priorities have been sorted in a list of ten that also serve as instructions. First off is the rule that veterans must come first, not the VA. This is the most important rule. They believe that the care and funding of veteran health should be the first priority. The second priority refocuses on veteran service for those with disabilities and specialized needs. The third is the improvement of the VA, or more specifically the improvement of how the VA work-such as dealing with the timing and quality of care. The fourth and fifth priorities deals with the allowing of choice concerning from who and where the veterans receive their health care from. They believe the veteran has a right to choose. Following suit, the sixth, seventh, and eighth priorities again drills upon the Veteran Affairs by suggesting reform on thing such as the possibilities of health care on their budget, veterans’ demographics, and the cycle of their ‘standard operating procedures.’ They also note that the reform of such things will require bipartisan vision, courage, and commitment-to which they state in their ninth priority and how to implement it. The tenth -but by far not the least important-priority is to hold the VA accountable for all

The Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) is responsible for providing vital services to Americas veterans. Such services include health care, benefit programs, and access to national cemeteries to former military personnel and their dependents. In this case well be discussing the health care system and how it pertains to our veterans. The health benefits provided by the VA should serve as ones’ sole source of health care or as a complement to an already existing plan. As with anything it has its pros and cons.

The government has authorized veterans to utilize private medical care in the past. After World War I, there were so many veterans in need of medical attention that private institutions were enlisted to help. However, as Jessica Adler points out, “Complaints about privately administered care were so rife, and it was so difficult to oversee and manage the

The United States Department of Veterans Affairs overseas various Organizations that assist those who have served in the United States of America’s armed forces, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is one of them. Health care is a necessity that is not cheap for Americans. Most veterans qualify for this type of health care, which is a benefit well earned after serving their country. The process can be a lengthy and drawn out for several reasons. Healthcare after all is a business, and in every business organizations there are controversies. Often healthcare is associated with good ethical practices however, that is not always the case. For the past few months there has been a spotlight placed on the VHA, however, this is not the

Thomas Brennan, a U.S Marine Veteran and Purple Heart Recipient from North Carolina, is tragically the depiction of why the VA needs reconstruction and more resources. When calling about his prescription for his intense migraines he get as a result to a traumatic brain injury, he was told for the third time that they [the VA] forgot to fill the prescription (Jones). “‘And when you’re sitting at home like this, you don’t feel like you matter to the doctors who are supposed to take care of you,’” said Brennan to one of the many VA officials he had to talk to when asking about his prescription. The 2014 Veteran's Choice Program was made to liberate Veteran’s from complications like this.

The Veteran Affairs (VA) department needs to attend to the culture of clinical diagnosis (Satel). In order for the VA to be able to focus on the clinical diagnostics of PTSD. The VA will need an increase in funds, as well as other organizations like Operation Never Forgotten to help veterans with their emotional and mental disorders. In order to do so, there would need to be a bill passed through U.S. Congress and eventually signed by the United States President to become a law or budget change for such organizations. The bill would potentially state the importance of why the budget needs to be increased