The, And The Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention For American Veterans Act Of 2014

The United States is known as one of the greatest world powers: however it is held back by its weak healthcare system. As of 2010 the US healthcare system currently ranks the 37th best out of 190 countries (Murray). Before the introduction of the Affordable Care Ac in 2010, the United States had an individual insurance market. It was the responsibility of the individual or their employer to take care of their healthcare costs. On top of this, millions of people could be denied insurance by different agencies due to pre-existing claims. Healthcare was expensive, but the costs were nothing compared to the medical bills owed by an uninsured person. Universal healthcare is a basic right not a privilege. Everyone should be given the

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

No more veterans should be compelled to agonize or perish while the government fails to perform its obligations. [...] There comes a time when the political branches have so completely and chronically failed to respect the peoples constitutional rights that the courts must be willing to enforce them. We have reached that unfortunate point with respect to veterans who are suffering from the hidden, or not hidden, wounds of war. (Williams 1)

On February 12, 2015, President Barack Obama signed the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act (Clay Hunt Act) that will work towards expanding and allowing for greater efficiency and coherence within The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) mental health services and suicide prevention programs. The Clay Hunt Act includes peer support and community outreach pilot programs, requirement of 3rd party evaluations, collaboration with non-profit mental health organizations, creation of a centralized interactive website for all mental health services, extended combat veteran eligibility and an incentive loan repayment program for psychiatrists. The Clay Hunt Act was named after a marine veteran who died by suicide in March 2011 after a long battle with post-traumatic stress disorder and survivor’s guilt. Clay had extensive difficulty receiving adequate mental health services from the VA. He commented to his mother, “I’m a guinea pig for drugs. They’ll put me on one thing, I’ll have side effects, and then they put me on something else (iava.org).” The New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, and many other news organization have all run features on the struggle American Veterans have with accessing mental health services, including the VA’s lengthy wait times, staff shortage, and the sole focus on medication to treat mental health disorders. (……). Despite the VA’s current initiatives, the rates of suicide by veterans have continued to increase with the current

The Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 (H.R. 3230) have been put in place to provide funding as well as other services to veterans in any form of VA medical facilities. With this legislation, various programs have been established to provide funding and ensure care (Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014, 2014).

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.

“An Iraq veteran with a history of addiction was found dead on the floor of his room in a VA, he was given a 30 day supply of ant-anxiety medication and a 15 day supply of methadone (Glantz, A, 2014).” “A veteran shot himself in the head in a VA psych ward in Minnesota and a delusional veteran jumped off the roof of a Portland (Glantz, 2014).” Glantz (2014) reported that while in a locked psychiatric unit a veteran had overdosed on morphine. A 31-year-old Iraq veteran that was denied a PTSD rating shot himself, leaving three kids and a wife, “three months after his death the VA reversed itself, saying it was clearly and unmistakably in error (Glantz, 2014).” “Independent legal analysts say the nearly 1000 wrongful death payments in the decade after 9/11 represent a small percentage of the veterans who died because of malpractice by the Department of Veterans Affairs (Glantz, 2014).” Glantz (2014) reported that unlike in

Reauthorization of the Choice Act which was passed 3 years ago allows local community providers to allow members to receive health care within their community. The fundamental modifications to the Choice Act was the Vet Connect Act which follows the veterans medical information to their local providers so they can make a good decision based on patient. That way community providers can know precisely what medications the veteran is prescribed at the VA. Beto expresses the concerns he has about the treatment of military coming back with wounds and physiological trauma they have faced from war unlike during the Vietnam

Since there is no reported data or analyses to help the nation or specific regions and communities assess veterans’ needs for services by geographic area, and to plan for and coordinate service delivery across community-based, TRICARE, and VHA resources; we purpose several general directions for moving forward (Burnam et. al, 2009). The general directions for moving forward include a need for confidentiality, consumer education, treatment choices, workforce policy, training and certification, QI needs, and technical assistance to the

Much like the people who serve and will ultimately utilize this organization, The Veterans administration (VA) has a set of core values each member of the armed forces live by: integrity, respect, excellence, advocacy and commitment. The VA has always signified a place of hope and security for veterans past and present. For those who serve the expectation is that when they need medical, dental, housing, educational and other assistance the VA would be there. Marred by problems over the years and recently in the media highlighted for long wait times to receive medical attention , bureaucratic red tape to receive the benefits these veterans have earned, some have paid the ultimate price (death) which they expected to happen in some foreign land not at home.

According to Dr. Mike Haynie, the Founder and Executive Director of the Institute for Veterans and Military Families, “22 military veterans today commit suicide in this country one every 80 minutes[...and]in recent years, more veterans have died by their own hand than service members lost to the enemy in Iraq and Afghanistan” (Haynie). On a typical stance, many Americans would disregard this shocking statistic as merely a myth or a folktale. In reality, however, this statistic illustrates the “blind side” of America; it illustrates the assumption people unknowingly draw about veterans and the pain they actually suffer from war. It is these very veterans to whom America gives its support and blessings; it is for these very veterans that the

Congress established the Veterans Bureau in 1921 to provide assistance to World War I Veterans, however it was abolished nine years later due to corruption. The Veterans Administration (VA) was created in 1930 to take its place and care for Veterans. In the efforts to establish the VA to assist veterans was still not successful the second time around. Ten thousand WWI veterans protested in Washington 1932 after not receiving war bonuses they were promised and in 1945 VA Administrator Frank Hines resigned (Pearson, 2014). In 1947 a government commission on reforming government uncovers enormous waste, duplication and inadequate care (Pearson, 2014). In 1981, in Wadsworth Veterans Medical Center in Los Angeles a former Marine who had rammed the hospital 's lobby with his Jeep and fired shots into the wall after claiming the VA had failed to attend to his service-related disabilities and committed suicide (Pearson, 2014).

Veterans are heroes in the eyes of many citizens of the United States. There are over 20 million veterans who have risked their lives at young ages to help give this nation a fear free life. They serve and protect the land for their children, spouses, parents, family, and neighbors. Yet they are not treated with the love and respect they truly deserve. Those who have served took a devastating loss when the, “House Appropriations Subcommittee marked up the 2016 Veterans Affairs funding bill, and slashed more than $1.4 billion from the president 's requested budget for America’s Veterans” ( ask mrs. Pyle 8). Today, the nation’s hero are treated worse than prisoners who have committed murder or rape. While these criminals have a safe and warm place to stay, there are many homeless veterans who are starving and out in the cold. There are veteran centers around the United States, but they are over capacity, and some do not give the care the veterans desperately need. The men and woman are only allowed to see the doctors who work for the V.A., or the appointment and the treatment will not be accepted by the insurance. Instead of spending money on new faculties, the government feels that when another country is in trouble, they deserve the money more than their own people. Veterans of the United States are being put on the back burner while the government gives more attention to the murderers and child molesters in prison, other countries that have people in need just like the

Congress has responded to the public outcry for action in the face of unacceptable suicide rates and has passed multiple pieces of legislation aimed at correcting the problem. The 2007 Joshua Omvig Bill directed the VA to develop “data systems to increase understanding of suicide among Veterans and inform both the VA and other suicide prevention programs” (Veterans Affairs, 2012, p. 7). In 2015, President Obama signed the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act into Law, requiring the VA to “make it easier for veterans to find mental health resources, do more to recruit and retain professionals” and to increase “accountability for the government programs serving them” (Baker, 2015, para. 2). This recent legislation tends to be

According to the Supreme Court's decisions on affirmative action, determining whether or not affirmative action programs are permissible depends upon the goal of the program. It is not enough to try to remedy vague historical discrimination, even if that discrimination was significant (Muhl, 1999). Instead, the affirmative program needs to meet a demonstrated specific need to remedy past discrimination (Muhl, 1999). Therefore, from a legal standpoint, the issue would seem to be whether disabled veterans and the other identified at-risk veterans have