Something on my mind...

I'm sitting here and I can't stop thinking about the movie "Born on The Fourth of July". That movie highlighted the treatment that soldiers like Ron Kovac received as a thank you for their service. I feel akin to Ron Kovac and like this except from his autobiography:

"I wrote all night long, seven days a week, single space, no paragraphs, front and back of the pages, pounding the keys so hard the tips of my fingers would hurt. I couldn't stop writing, and I remember feeling more alive than I had ever felt. Convinced that I was destined to die young, I struggled to leave something of meaning behind, to rise above the darkness and despair. I wanted people to understand. I wanted to share with them as nakedly and openly and intimately as possible what I had gone through, what I had endured. I wanted them to know what it really meant to be in a war -- to be shot and wounded, to be fighting for my life on the intensive care ward -- not the myth we had grown up believing. I wanted people to know about the hospitals and the enema room, about why I had become opposed to the war, why I had grown more and more committed to peace and nonviolence." — Ron Kovic

I hope to relay a story too.

Whats is going on in our VA hospitals right now is so reminicent of a time not long ago. That movie brought back memories. I can't and won't speak for the men and women who have had to go through a VA hospital on the way home from Nam, I was fortunate and have been able to put that war behind me, however many men and women still haven't made it home, and it's the system that's broken and needs fixing that has let them down.


I first read where they were getting rid of ;

WASHINGTON - The Army on Thursday fired the general in charge of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, saying he was the wrong person to fix embarrassing failures in the treatment of war-injured soldiers that have soiled the institution's reputation as a first-class hospital.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070302/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/walter_reed_14

And then I read this:

WASHINGTON — Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey abruptly stepped down Friday as the Bush administration struggled to cope with the fallout from a scandal over substandard conditions for war-wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070302/walter-reed

But getting rid of them isn't going to do anything for a system that is for all intents and puposes broken as these next articles will highlight.

Investigators found several problems in how agency officials formulated budget requests to Congress, including failure to accurately forecast the department's workload, unrealistic assumptions about savings that could be achieved from policy changes and calculation errors.

GAO confirmed VA's claim that part of the forecasting problem stemmed from using workload data from 2003, before American forces were heavily engaged in the Middle East. For its fiscal 2006 budget formulation the agency sought additional data from the Defense Department, but had trouble obtaining it, auditors found.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=35084&printerfriendlyVers=1&

They have their sacrificial lamb and maybe now that the spot light is on we'll get something done, but where will the money come from? How big of an actual deficit does the system have? This next article suggests that the White House, in 2001, increased the budget for veterans issues a record:

WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- The White House today delivered to Congress the largest increase in discretionary spending for veterans ever proposed by any President -- $1.5 billion for 2001.

"With this budget, the President signals the Nation's continuing commitment to her veterans, their families and the selfless professionals within this Department who assist them," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Togo D. West, Jr. "The median age of the Nation's veterans is about 58, and more than nine million are at least 65 years of age. As they age, their health-care requirements and the assistance they need from VA increase dramatically. The President's budget recognizes this and responds to it."

http://home.att.net/~vet_updates/vabudget.htm

the article states further:

VA's 2001 budget would provide $48 billion for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, 2000. It will fund benefits and services for millions of eligible veterans and family members. There are 25 million veterans and 44 million family members who are potentially eligible for VA benefits and services. The budget's priorities include:

* Improved access and service in health care to reduce appointment waiting times;

* Enhanced standards for patient safety;

* Full funding for new emergency and extended care benefits;

* Adding more than 1,000 claims processors since 1999;

* Funding for more federal and state veterans cemeteries;

* Preservation of national cemeteries as shrines to our veterans.

http://home.att.net/~vet_updates/vabudget.htm

Something went wrong, very wrong. Of course the Gulf War has come but this money never saw the light of day and I'll venture to say, was never intended to.

The Facts: While it is true that the VA health care budget is increased for FY 2004, the proposed
increase is insufficient to meet veterans’ medical needs. According to the American Legion, the
budget “comes $1.9 billion short of maintaining an inadequate status quo.”1 The combined
effects of medical inflation, which was 4.7% in 2002,2 and new enrollment, which is expected to
increase by 8% this year,3 consume most of the increase.
The budget does contain important initiatives to reduce waiting times and improve care for a
subset of veterans, mainly those with low incomes and service-related disabilities. But because
the overall level of funding is inadequate, the budget pays for these initiatives that benefit some
veterans by significantly cutting the medical care available for millions of other veterans. This
“rob Peter to pay Paul” policy is fundamentally wrong.

http://www.house.gov/larson/budget_factsheet_conf1.pdf

The problem isn't just at Walter Reed but is a system wide problem as is illistrated by this article:

The VA claims that by shifting funds dedicated to replace old equipment and conduct maintenance the department can address its budget shortfall and meet veterans’ demand for timely, high–quality health care. The following snapshots from across the nation reflect the stark reality of the budget shortfall on veterans’ access to safe, high quality care.



* The 3 surgical operating rooms at the White River Junction VAMC in Vermont had to be closed on June 27 because the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system was broken and had not been repaired due to the siphoning of maintenance funds to cover the budget shortfall.



* The VAMC in San Antonio could not provide a paraplegic veteran with a special machine to help clean a chronic wound because the facility did not have the equipment dollars.



* The VAMC in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, closed its Geriatric Evaluation and Management Unit which does extensive case management to help elderly veterans increase their functioning and remain at home.

http://veterans.house.gov/democratic/budget/snapshot6-29-05.htm

These are just some of the problems facing not only our Veterans Healthcare system but healthcare in this country in general. It is a train wreck waiting to happen. I am one of those 58 year old veterans that may have to depend on the VA hospitals for my very life. I hope that I have shead some light on the problem and that we work expediciously to change the system, as well as the people running it.