by James Glaser
March 2, 2004

The Veterans of Foreign Wars Commander in Chief, Edward S. Banas Sr. of Voluntown Connecticut has written to his "Troops" that "The President ignored veterans in the State of the Union Address and with the release of his 2005 budget; it is further evidence that veterans are no longer a priority with this administration."

Banas goes on that "This funding package is a disgrace and a sham." Many thousands of veterans have to wait six months or more to get a basic medical appointment at a Veterans hospital. Then if the doctor they see wants a test done, they very well might have to wait another six months for that appointment.

There is a reason for all of these long waits. Our government in Washington is trying to drive as many veterans as they can out of the system. Washington is giving Veteran Care a 1.8% increase in funding at a time that the whole nation is looking at increased costs in health care, in the 10-20% range.

"What the administration is proposing for veterans is a shell game, Veterans are being asked to pay for their own health care to make up for shortages in the budget." Washington now wants to charge veterans an "enrollment fee" and raise the co-pay for prescriptions. This is happening while at the same time, millions of this nation's veterans are locked out of the VA entirely. Veterans have paid for this health care already. They paid with sweat and with their blood.

All Veterans are asking for is the same type of coverage that the President, his staff, and those in Congress have. Do you think any one of them would wait for six or twelve months for a doctor appointment? Has a freshman Congressman earned the right to better health care than a man who has lost both legs and an arm defending this country? How about the vet that lost his sight, is he less deserving?

Right now our veteran population is aging and we have troops returning from both Afghanistan and Iraq. Commander Banas says, "It is clear that, just as we fought on the battlefields, we must now bring the fight to the halls of Congress to rectify this disgraceful budget."

Washington wants a $15 dollar co-pay on prescriptions and a $250 annual enrollment fee. Bush's budget cuts $50 million from VA medical and prosthetic research at a time when more and more young Americans are losing limbs in combat. George also wants to cut 294 million from VA Nursing Home services and reduce the number of employees to process compensation and pension (C&P) claims which are already backlogged for months.

There are tens of thousands of veterans that have died before their claim could be processed. Veterans from the first Gulf War were told to GO HOME, as their complaints were unfounded and just "in their heads." Now that over ten thousand have died and another 150,000 have deteriorated to the point of permanent disability, the Veterans Administration is taking their claim of health problems seriously. Still today thousands of them are still waiting for help.

Veterans Administration Hospitals are not like civilian hospitals. It is four or more to a room with a shared bathroom. There is a dedicated staff, but they are always short handed. Inpatient vets are supposed to have priority, but there are still hours and hours in crowded waiting rooms.

Every VA Medical hospital would be hard pressed to even keep their doors open if it wasn't for the thousands and thousands of volunteers that help run the facility. These people put in millions of hours every year doing everything from record keeping to feeding and bathing bed ridden patients. If you need a test and are in a wheel chair, it is going to be a volunteer that pushes you to your appointment and they come back to take you to your room when you are done. They smile and treat you like a friend.

Many of these people that volunteer are veterans themselves and feel they owe a debt to other veterans. Many are Americans that really want to "Support the Troops." In the fiscal year 2003, at the Minneapolis Veterans Hospital, there were 231,000 hours donated by volunteers. Nationally, at all VA Hospitals, 12,983,728 hours of service were donated to help with Veteran health care. Those volunteers really do support our troops!

In George Bush's White House and in the Halls of Congress our government officials believe that after the battle is over, veterans are no longer one of the "Troops" that they wave the flag for.