VA’s lost sense of mission

These past years, the Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) has been often reported upon by the media and in the most negative of terms, the subject of queries and investigations by both the nation’s executive branch and Congress and a rather sore subject of debate for all.

Still, even in the wake of the scandalous treatment of the nation’s soldiers at the Walter Read Medical Center and the abounding revelations that veterans, many veterans, are dying as they attempt to navigate this over bloated bureaucracy of the VA. The VA is largely perceived as an entity that does not care for veterans’ needs and despite the medical realisms of the very veterans it was established to serve, the VA marches on seemingly immune to Congressional oversight or monitoring of any sort.

{mosads}The VA seems to have lost sight of its most established, dominant and permanent reality. It exists, from administrative assistants to physicians to janitors, to care for the needs of those who donned a uniform, picked up a weapon and took his/her post to defend this nation and the freedoms it affords every citizen.

The VA in the state of Colorado seems to have more problems than other states. As my father, affectionately known by all as, “Uncle Marty” and a veteran of the Vietnam War, who lives in Colorado Springs has come to say in a most ironic fashion, “I didn’t die in a timely manner.”

Beginning more than 4 years ago, he was diagnosed with a pre-cancerous condition and told that the illness would need to be treated post-haste lest he die of cancer. Two years hence, after asking, pleading and the filling out of the always obligatory mountains of paperwork, the VA would not see my father to treat the cancer, all the while, letting the cancer grow. In the end he was treated, but not before I intervened, appealing to members of Congress with whom I am acquainted, in particular the ever-concerned-for-his-constituents, Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.).

As if actively working against a veteran being treated for cancer was not enough, nearly a year ago, Uncle Marty, after being rebuffed by his VA doctors at every turn, became critically ill, and was hospitalized in the closest hospital to home. He was on a respirator twice and twice I was called to travel from Denver to Colorado Springs immediately as it may be the last time I see him alive. Fast forward and the VA denied nearly all his claims, including his hospitalization and the care and surgery required to keep him alive. The VA’s excuse…Uncle Marty was not treated in a VA hospital, disregarding their own rule that if a vet lives more than 50 miles from a VA hospital, the vet should be treated at a non-VA hospital and the hospital reimbursed.

Even given the long hospital stay, a stay in a rehabilitation facility and the following 3 months recuperating in my own home, the VA would again not see my father, renew his medications necessary to his survival, etc. He appealed to the VA advocate, later learning that the advocate ignored his concerns and pleadings, not even entering his information into their computer records. The VA in Colorado Springs just didn’t care to take time out of their day to address this vet’s needs. Not nearly at the end of Uncle Marty’s ordeal, again the help of Lamborn was enlisted. He was able to put pressure on the VA and their doctors to actually see my father. The more than $100,000 in medical bills are still a question and Uncle Marty is preparing, realistically or not, to have his scant assets confiscated by medical creditors.

Is this a way to treat a man or woman who fought for and protected our nation, our democracy? What do vets without connections do? I supposed they just die in a timely manner.

It is recognized that Congress has quite a bit on its plate—the threat of terrorism to the homeland, an out of control national debt that long ago became a crisis, etc. However, Congress must move to “yank the leash” of the VA with every lever at its disposal…lest we have no more brave men and women willing to enlist, don a uniform and pick up a weapon to defend our nation.

The VA, on its own or with the force of Congress, needs to come to terms with the fact that the care they provide to our former soldiers is not a government handout. The care the VA is supposed to provide is a benefit earned by those served and defended the United States of America…you and me.

Katz is the principal of TSG, LLC, a consultancy that advises foreign governments (including the government of Azerbaijan), NGOs and corporations in the realms of strategic communications, politics and policy. He is also the former head of Public Affairs and Public Relations for the American Jewish Committee, based in Los Angeles.