Support the troops

[Truthmatters]

http://www.dav.org/voters/budget_shortfalls.html

 

[Truthmatters]

Position Papers
Budget Shortfalls for Veterans Health Care

Shortfalls in the current fiscal year (FY) 2005 Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care budget are adversely affecting VA's ability to provide timely, quality health care for our nation’s veterans. After reductions from the $1.2 billion increase in medical care appropriations, VA received a net gain of $479 million, which was used towards the unbudgeted 2 percent additional cost-of-living allowance (COLA) for VA employees ordered by Congress. According to the VA, the health care increase was reduced by the 0.8 percent rescission, a decrease in collections, transfers and add-ons to other programs.

With the FY 2005 appropriation, VA had to maintain a freeze on new enrollments of lower priority group veterans seeking medical care, and even with that freeze, news stories discussed the shortfalls in VA funding at local facilities:

On December 23, 2004, the Denver Post reported that Colorado’s veterans health care system was “straining under unprecedented demand and a budget shortfall.” The system, which includes a hospital in Denver and seven outpatient clinics, received $3 million less this year than expected, a 2 percent shortfall that means a hiring freeze and the return of waiting lists for care. They were funded at nearly $1 million less than 2002 funding levels. Ed Thorsland, director of the VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System, said, “We not only have burgeoning costs but burgeoning demand, and it goes beyond what appears to be generous increases by Congress.”>
In December 2004, the Associated Press reported that some military veterans from mid-Michigan would have to go to Ann Arbor or Battle Creek for care because a clinic at Michigan State University had reached capacity.
In December 2004, the Altoona Mirror reported that Van Zandt Medical Center would have to cut services because of a $5 million shortfall for FY 2005. The cuts will apply to services now unavailable at the hospital, but which the hospital pays other local organizations to provide, including neurosurgery, orthopedics, dermatology, long-term care, and adult day health care.
In January 2005, it was reported that there would be a $14.2 million shortfall in the annual allocation at the Togus, Maine VA Medical Center (VAMC). The estimated annual deficit was pegged at $65 million for the Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN), which distributes funds for hospitals and health care centers throughout New England. Approximately $30 million has been found that can be applied to that regional shortfall, and the Togus shortfall was reduced to about $7 million.
In January 2005, a VA medical facility in New Mexico was reportedly $4 million under budget, and will lose 60 full-time employee positions.
In January 2005, it was reported that the Boise VA Medical Center has a $2 million deficit. There is a Network-wide hiring freeze. They were told to hold to a zero growth in primary care, and they expect staff reductions through attrition.
On February 13, 2005, a Denver Post editorial cited the impact of the administration’s budget proposal on Colorado veterans. Nearly 30,000 of Colorado’s 430,000 veterans will be forced to pay a new $250 fee to access medical care, along with doubling of prescription drug costs. Another 215,000 veterans could be affected by the price hikes in copayments for drugs.
On February 19, 2005, the Gannett Wisconsin newspapers reported that the waiting list for services at the VA clinic in Green Bay can be as long as a year.
On February 24, 2005, it was reported that a group of Duke University physicians threatened to stop treating military veterans referred by the VA medical center because the VA won’t pay enough.
On February 27, 2005, the Associated Press reported that veterans hospitals in North Carolina are struggling to meet growing demand. Charles Smith, director of the state division of veterans affairs, said, “If Congress goes along with the administration’s budget, there are veterans who are getting treatment now who will be pushed out.”
On March 1, 2005, it was reported that the Fort Worth VA clinic was overburdened by a surge of veterans.
In March 2005, it was reported that VISN 1has sacrificed its reserves and the majority of the capital accounts to provide maximum support to the facilities’ operating budgets. There are no funds left to provide assistance from either VISN or at the national level. There is a network-wide employee freeze. No recruitment can occur for any position without specific approval. Specific monthly targets were identified that must be achieved in moving towards an employee target. The Providence VA Medical Center has a deficit of $5.5 million. There will be no supplemental funding; several initiatives will be implemented to help reduce the deficit: reduce pharmacy expenses, reduce overtime expenses, restrict repairs and minor improvements to emergency situations, decrease use of clinical contracts and fee basis. Potential areas for increased revenue: third-party prescription billing, fee basis billing, prosthetic billing.
In Oklahoma, the Muskogee VAMC medical staff is taking steps to preserve financial stability, including, pharmacy and therapeutics committees reviewing several difficult cost containment measures; fee base care will only be provided for 50 percent service-connected or greater; will be denied for less than 50 percent service-connected and nonservice-connected; there will be conservative ordering in prosthetics; it was requested that medical staff be very conservative and have a plan for treatment before ordering an MRI. “Evidence based medicine should be followed for treatments. We are a HMO for 30,000 unique…appropriated dollars are not going to increase.”
On March 11, 2005, it was reported that the Veterans Affairs Medical and Regional Office Center at Togus plans to cut its work force from 1,000 to 950 by September 30. Togus was facing a $7 million shortfall at the end of January. Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine), said she supports the current staffing level at Togus. “Any reduction in force at Togus would be contrary to the goals and mission of the VA.”
On March 17, 2005, it was reported that the Augusta, Ga. VA medical center is considering shortening the hours of its emergency facilities. A combination of factors, including money and staffing, has led to the proposal.
On March 18, 2005, it was reported that the VA facility in Boise, Idaho is facing a $1.8 billion deficit; at the Louisville, Kentucky hospital, veterans undergoing a cyctoscopy must lie on a broken table during the procedure because VA had no funds to replace it; the Chillicothe, Ohio VA hospital will be forced to shut down a psychiatric rehabilitation program.
On March 19, 2005, The Roanoke Times reported that “staffers at the Salem facility are seeing an increase in the number of soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder.”
On March 20, 2005, the Los Angeles Times ran a story about mental health care deficiencies in VA facilities. While officials on both sides argue about the best way to treat veterans with post-traumatic stress, the need for mental health care has grown.
On March 22, 2005, it was announced that the Arnold Center pharmacy is being closed due to an extreme shortage of pharmacists within the Tennessee Valley Healthcare System.
On March 22, 2005, The Patriot Ledger reported a plan to cut back urgent care at the Brockton VA hospital.

 

[red states rule]

redstates?

shattered?

there is not one of you who will SUPPORT OUR TROOPS?

We do supoport them

We want them to win

The left wants them to surrender and lose the war

 

[red states rule]

they had to lower their admission standards in order to make goals....now we are letting felons into the armed forces. nice touch

By all means, continue to show how you "support" the troops by dismissing those who do answer the call

 

[red states rule]

HEALTH-US:
Suicidal and Facing a Third Tour in Iraq
Aaron Glantz

SAN FRANCISCO, May 15 (IPS) - At the beginning of May, Corporal Cloy Richards tried to kill himself.

"He punched out all his windows and cut major arteries," his mother Tina Richards told IPS. "He had to go to the hospital because he almost bled to death."

Cloy Richards, who lives in rural Salem, Missouri, has served two deployments in the Marine Corps in Iraq. The military lists him as 80-percent combat disabled.

His mother says he has knee and arm injuries, as well as post-traumatic stress disorder, and currently has a claim pending with the Army for a traumatic brain injury.

"It's something that affects us every single day," Tina said, "when he's 23 years old and he can't even climb the stairs. He has bad nightmares where he thinks he's back in Iraq."

Richards said her son sustained most of his injuries after his first tour in Iraq, adding that the family protested his second deployment to no avail. After four years on active duty, Cloy Richards is now in the individual ready reserve and faces the possibility of a third deployment to Iraq.

New guidelines released by the Pentagon in December allow commanders to redeploy soldiers suffering from traumatic stress disorders.

According to the military newspaper Stars and Stripes, service-members with "a psychiatric disorder in remission, or whose residual symptoms do not impair duty performance" may be considered for duty downrange. It lists post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a "treatable" problem.

PTSD is an anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to an event or ordeal in which grave physical harm occurred or was threatened, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. A person having a flashback may lose touch with reality and believe that the traumatic incident is happening all over again.

"It's just terrifying," said Dr. Karen Seal, a clinician at San Francisco's Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Centre who treats soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychological illnesses.

Seal told IPS that patients under her care have been deployed despite serious mental health conditions.

"I feel like writing them a medical excuse," she said, "but that's not my responsibility as a VA clinician. Because I'm a VA provider, I don't have the authority to do that."

According to a study co-authored by Seal and her colleagues at the Centre, about one- third of the more than 100,000 returning veterans seen at VA facilities between Sep. 30, 2001 and Sep. 30, 2005 were diagnosed with mental illness or a psycho-social disorder such as homelessness and marital problems, including domestic violence. Over half suffered from more than one disorder.

Other researchers suggest those statistics may only represent the tip of the iceberg. Many veterans, they note, don't come forward to seek care. The stigma associated with post- traumatic stress disorder may account for part of this gap, they say.

In addition, according to recent report by Linda Bilmes of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, waiting lists for returning veterans are "so long as to effectively deny treatment to a number of veterans."

In the May 2006 edition of Psychiatric News, Bilmes notes that VA Undersecretary of Health Policy Coordination Frances Murphy wrote that when services are available, "waiting lists render that care virtually inaccessible."

There is also the issue of geography.

"One of the disconnects and failures in planning for this war is that the Veterans Administration is essentially configured in an urban way," Bilmes told IPS. "That makes a lot of sense for recruiting specialists and staffing the facilities. However, recruiting for the military in this war tends to come primarily from small, rural America. So, what we don't have is enough mental health care for veterans in these rural communities when they come home."

Last Thursday, the VA's Inspector General issued a report estimating that 1,000 veterans under its care commit suicide every year.

The report also found that vets are at increased risk of suicide because many VA clinics don't have 24-hour care or adequate mental health screening, and lack properly trained personnel.

The report, which was requested last year by Rep. Michael Michaud, a Democrat of Maine, said clinics should work harder so veterans can seek treatment without feeling stigmatised, and recommended additional screening for patients with traumatic brain injury, a type of brain damage caused by projectiles like roadside bombs which many are calling the "signature injury" of the Iraq war.

"The problem is that traumatic brain injury, which is an anatomic, physiologic problem, sort of intermingles with post-traumatic stress disorder," Dr. William Schecter, the chief of surgery at San Francisco General Hospital, explained to IPS. "This is going to be a lifelong challenge for the individuals who have suffered these injuries." (END/2007)

This is a good example of what the left wants for all of Amercia

Government run healthcare (i.e. Hillarycare)

 

[Bullypulpit]

Yeah, Bush supports the troops alright. He opposes an additional 0.5% increase in base pay above the 3% he's asking for. For a new enlistee, that's about $6.00 a month. He's opposing an increase in survivor benefits amounting to about $40.00 a month. He's opposing a change to Tricare which will limit the cost of prescription drugs for service members and their families.

Add this to the disgrace at Walter Reed, the failure to provide body armor and armored vehicles, he continues to send our troops into the heart of a bloody civil war and you can see...clearly...that the Bush administration supports the troops.

 

[red states rule]

Yeah, Bush supports the troops alright. He opposes an additional 0.5% increase in base pay above the 3% he's asking for. For a new enlistee, that's about $6.00 a month. He's opposing an increase in survivor benefits amounting to about $40.00 a month. He's opposing a change to Tricare which will limit the cost of prescription drugs for service members and their families.

Add this to the disgrace at Walter Reed, the failure to provide body armor and armored vehicles, he continues to send our troops into the heart of a bloody civil war and you can see...clearly...that the Bush administration supports the troops.

and libs call the troops uneducated, cold blooded murderers, terrorists, Nazi's, comparws them to Pol Pot, and losers

 

[Bullypulpit]

and libs call the troops uneducated, cold blooded murderers, terrorists, Nazi's, comparws them to Pol Pot, and losers

Can you cite one time when I've even suggested that? I'm a veteran. My brother-in-law just got back from Iraq...My cousin's husband did two tours with an artillery company...I've had skin in this game, and I've served my country. Can you say the same you snot-nosed little quisling? Didn't think so. Dismissed.

 

[maineman]

Can you cite one time when I've even suggested that? I'm a veteran. My brother-in-law just got back from Iraq...My cousin's husband did two tours with an artillery company...I've had skin in this game, and I've served my country. Can you say the same you snot-nosed little quisling? Didn't think so. Dismissed.

RSR is perfectly happy to insult the shit out of veterans and servicemembers if they do not agree with him.....

that is what that chickenshit yellow bellied little coward calls "supporting the troops"?

As much as those of us who are veterans despise such conduct, we know that, on the battlefield, RSR would be a detriment. He would cower in the corner when the action started and be good for nothing but shitting in his own pants. Someone would have to cover for him.

 

[red states rule]

Can you cite one time when I've even suggested that? I'm a veteran. My brother-in-law just got back from Iraq...My cousin's husband did two tours with an artillery company...I've had skin in this game, and I've served my country. Can you say the same you snot-nosed little quisling? Didn't think so. Dismissed.

Did I say you

The statements I pointed out were made by

Kerry

Murtha

Kennedy

Durbin

I am sure you have heard of these clowns - they run your party and they were the ones who smeared the troops

 

[red states rule]

RSR is perfectly happy to insult the shit out of veterans and servicemembers if they do not agree with him.....

that is what that chickenshit yellow bellied little coward calls "supporting the troops"?

As much as those of us who are veterans despise such conduct, we know that, on the battlefield, RSR would be a detriment. He would cower in the corner when the action started and be good for nothing but shitting in his own pants. Someone would have to cover for him.

Your own party has taken the lead in smearing the troops and you still bow before them and kiss their asses

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Yeah, Bush supports the troops alright. He opposes an additional 0.5% increase in base pay above the 3% he's asking for. For a new enlistee, that's about $6.00 a month. He's opposing an increase in survivor benefits amounting to about $40.00 a month. He's opposing a change to Tricare which will limit the cost of prescription drugs for service members and their families.

Add this to the disgrace at Walter Reed, the failure to provide body armor and armored vehicles, he continues to send our troops into the heart of a bloody civil war and you can see...clearly...that the Bush administration supports the troops.

Usual leftoid bullshit, Bush wants a raise, but lets pretend because he doesn't want the size raise some democrat wants that he doesn't want ANY raise.

 

[red states rule]

Usual leftoid bullshit, Bush wants a raise, but lets pretend because he doesn't want the size raise some democrat wants that he doesn't want ANY raise.

like when Dems scream about cuts in government programs - more money is being spent then last year - but Dems cry about cuts