The American Veterans Benefits Administration

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).

Prior to his appointment as the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (SECVA) Robert (Bob) McDonald was already well-known for his advocacy and promotion of the concept of “Servant Leadership” a term first coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in 1970. The author first wrote about the concept of Servant Leadership in an essay titled “The Servant as Leader.” In his essay, Greenleaf recounted his reason for writing the essay, stemmed from the belief that the country was in a leadership crisis and he had a responsibility to attempt to address the problem. When Mr. McDonald came to the VA, he like Greenleaf intuitively recognized the need for and his responsibility to institute and nurture this style of leadership within the department’s leadership ranks. The MyVA Integrated Plan (MIP) dated July 2015, illustrates McDonald’s commitment to this theory by recognizing the need to cultivate leadership excellence in the department by developing “Engaged Servant Leaders responsible for establishing an organizational culture rooted in VA core values that inspires and empowers all employees.” In order to restore the trust and confidence of the Veterans and the American Public, leadership at all levels must understand what servant leadership is, embrace the concept, and inculcates the concept throughout the leadership ranks within the department.

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

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).

One of the most serious problems facing all veterans today is the lack of proper healthcare. Soldiers, sailors and airmen are leaving active duty without having proper healthcare to cover their physical or mental injuries. The department responsible for veteran’s healthcare is the Department of Veterans Affairs. (VA) According to The department of Veterans Affairs website, “The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a government-run military veteran benefit system with Cabinet-level status. It is responsible for administering programs of veterans’ benefits for veterans, their families, and survivors. The benefits provided include disability compensation, pension, education, home loans, life insurance, vocational rehabilitation, survivors’ benefits, medical benefits and burial benefits. It is administered by the United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs.” The VA, who was formerly called the Veterans Administration, was established 21 July 1930, to consolidate and coordinate government activities affecting war veterans. The VA encompassed the functions of the former U.S. Veterans ' Bureau, the Bureau of Pensions of the Interior Department and the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. On 25 October 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed legislation creating a new federal Cabinet-level Department of Veterans Affairs to replace the Veterans Administration effective 15 March 1989 (V.A.)

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).

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.

One of the VA’s biggest issues right now is in regards to Quality of Care and Customer Satisfaction. Targeted media leaks and Congressional Testimony has shown how varied the opinion of care is. Some Veterans are happy with their care and statistics have borne out that of the senior population, Satisfaction with care has held at a stead 68% (Rachel Yehuda, 2015). These studies however are not taking into account those Veterans who

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.

The author starts off the article by telling us that the president at the time, Barack Obama visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and gave a brief speech telling everybody that the Department of Veterans Affairs has failed them. He talks about the challenging aspects that go with trying to improve the VA but doesn’t know how that will be achieved.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is a government run program to assist the U.S. Veterans who are disabled soldiers. It began when the Pilgrims passed a law that required disabled soldiers to receive benefits from the colony, as early as 1636 (U.S. Dept. of VA, 2014). By 1776, the Continental Congress provided pensions to disabled soldiers during the Revolutionary War. Later, the Veterans assistance program expanded to include benefits and pensions not only for Veterans but also for their widows and dependents. Finally, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) was established in 1865, to form the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, an institution

This report is the result of the contributions of several team members, who conducted site visits, processed and analyzed data, managed team activities, and enabled the Grant Thornton team to execute a rigorous study over a short period of time. The team was led by Grant Thornton, with integral support from team member FTI Consulting, and three independent contractors.

U.S veterans former, and current have fought or are fighting and have died in battle serving this wonderful country. More former veterans than ever are coming back disabled either mentally or physically. There are hundreds of disabled veteran foundations in the United States today, but a lot are a fraud. Everybody who has not served should donate a good amount of money of these foundations and not be worried about the foundations keeping it or giving it to someone else who shouldn’t receive it. We owe our lives to these men and women. Like Elmer Davis once said, ¨Our nation is the land of the brave because it is the home of the brave¨ (Elmer.). More Veterans are coming back disabled than ever before. To see the disgusted and sad faces on these families of these heroes who can’t live the way they used to is extremely depressing, You should

I agree with you. The Department of Veteran Affairs has failed many veterans. Moreover, as you stated, with the bureaucratic system that exists, and each change within legislation the agency has had a very difficult time adapting to the change. Furthermore, I attest to your thoughts on these changes in legislation, regulations, political influences, and unrealistic public expectations do contribute to the ineffectiveness of the programs offered by any one of the federal agencies.

The Department of Veterans Affairs hasn’t always been the same organization that we know today. President Hoover in his State of the Union Address of 1929 addressed the issue of not