Posted on 09/01/2003 9:23:43 AM PDT by tullycraft
You are soooo right. The department of veterans affairs is wasting money in the hundreds of millions every year to provide bonuses and what not to VA employees. Meanwhile, they can't staff enough doctors in some areas to treat veterans with life threating medical conditions. This problem was being addressed by American Legion activism until early this year. Then there was a change in focus at the top.
BTW the largest and most influential veterans organization in the U.S.
That changed with the election of the new national commander. His background is union organizing so naturally he gravitates towards democrats, and has been seen in numerous photo opp's with Hilda Beast, Dashole, and the rest of the socialist medicine machine. The democraps are reaching out for votes and support from this group.
Don't be fooled by the scripted PR. Grassroots Legion and VFW members will often tell you they think for themselves, and it is a bunch of crap.
Veterans in general dispise BJ clinton, and the democraps are Clinton. There is also a large number of gun owning veterans out there. Democraps don't have the veterans vote and won't for another generation due to eight years of Clinton.
You know, that's a hard question.
So many of them are both combat disabled and addicted.
I don't make any distinction. I didn't walk in their shoes.
I treat all the vets with the respect they deserve.
I can't speak for the feelings of vets like you and I who just served our time and got out.
I, too, shudder to think what the last three years would have been under AlGore.
All I can report is what the disabled vets tell me.
They still don't have proper medical care, and the wait to see a doctor is forever.
I took a box of playing cards down to the Veteran's Hospital here in Houston - 320 decks - along with a bunch of baseball caps and paper back books.
They don't have the amenities like this unless someone donates them.
I sat and talked with several vets who use the hospital facilities in San Antonio the night of my sis's memorial services.
They all told the same story:
It's better than it was under Clinton, but it's still a struggle to get medical attention.
I know it sounds like a hearts and flowers story to remind everyone about our vets lying in hospitals all over this country, but before anyone starts playing the little violin, check and see how many are in the Spinal Ward of the Audie Murphy Hospital in San Antonio.
They deserve whatever they need.
Bush proposes a 7.7% increase in VA Budget for FY 04
Source: Click Here
The declining population of veterans ultimately will mean that fewer veterans will seek medical care and monthly disability benefits. However, on the horizon, there will be increased usage of some VA benefits and services, as veterans age and more women draw on them. For FY'03, the Administration's budget requests $28 billion for the VA Medical Care program, an increase of $2.7 billion.
A dramatic increase is proposed for the VA Medical and Prosthetic Research Business Line, which focuses on areas particularly relevant to the veteran population-aging, chronic disease, mental illness, substance abuse, military occupations, and environmental exposure. The FY'04 budget requests a total of $822 million, an increase of $28 million from FY'03.
Source: Click here
San Antonio, Aug. 26, 2003--VA Secretary Anthony Principi told attendees today that "a perfect storm" is brewing in his department as more and more veterans use VA’s massive health care system. He noted that the number of users has jumped from 2.9 million a few years ago to nearly 5 million currently. The VFW life member said VA's 2004 budget has grown from $48 billion to $64 billion—which is larger than Great Britain’s total defense budget and represents a 32% increase.
Principi addressed four major points:
Drug Prescriptions: The new VA policy of accepting prescriptions written by private physicians will benefit some 200,000 veterans who enrolled on or before July 25 and were waiting 30 days for an appointment. This new test program allows vets to receive drugs from VA mail-out pharmacies even when prescribed by private doctors.
Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services (CARES): CARES is a plan to shift resources where they are needed most. For instance, VA is wasting $1 million a day on inefficient buildings. A panel is currently holding hearings relating to CARES.
Disability Compensation: Backlogged claims went from 432,000 to 270,000; the average time to decide a claim has decreased from 233 days a year ago to 160 days.
VA Cemeteries: VA will open six new national cemeteries by 2006 because approximately 1,800 veterans die each day.
100% agreement .... even with a marine!
But not to ALL other federal retirees...which are mostly pencil pushing beaurocrats who fell down some stairs or have carpal tunnel whatever. Now tell me that's fair.
$15,000,000,000 to the African AIDS cesspool is just peachy, also.
No, I wouldn't be surprised.
A lot of the salesmen who call on me are vets who have suffered some wound or other in combat.
They work everyday, have a wife and kids and enjoy grilling a steak on Saturday night.
The ones to which I was referring are the ones in the VA hospitals, and I've done a lot of counselling in VA hospitals.
I didn't disparage them because they were there trying to dry out or come down from a high.
I never knew what brought them to that place in their lives, and it didn't matter.
They needed help, and I did what I could.
If you had ever done any of this type counselling, you would know that the pity pot is turned upside down when you begin the conversation.
It doesn't matter how they got to where they are.
It only matters where they want to go with their lives.
The fact remains that they are a human being and a veteran who has served their country.
If they can get clean and sober, they can remember where they came from, but I'm never interested in that.
That is made clear from the very beginning.
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