VCS (Veterans for Common Sense) Oral Testimony for House Veterans' Affairs Committee-7/25

[fed-up]

This is one of two groups that just started a lawsuit against Nicholson (former head of VA that just resigned :))
(testimony is second link below)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070724/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/veterans_care_lawsuit

Injured Iraq war veterans sue VA head
By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer Tue Jul 24, 1:22 AM ET
WASHINGTON - Frustrated by delays in health care, injured Iraq war veterans accused VA Secretary Jim Nicholson in a lawsuit of breaking the law by denying them disability pay and mental health treatment.


The lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, filed Monday in federal court in San Francisco, seeks broad changes in the agency as it struggles to meet growing demands from veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Suing on behalf of hundreds of thousands of veterans, it charges that the VA has failed warriors on numerous fronts. It contends the VA failed to provide prompt disability benefits, failed to add staff to reduce wait times for medical care and failed to boost services for post-traumatic stress disorder.

The lawsuit also accuses the VA of deliberately cheating some veterans by allegedly working with the Pentagon to misclassify PTSD claims as pre-existing personality disorders to avoid paying benefits. The VA and Pentagon have generally denied such charges.

"When one of our combat veterans walks into a VA hospital, then they must see a doctor that day," said Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, which filed the lawsuit. "When a war veteran needs disability benefits because he or she can't work, then they must get a disability check in a few weeks."
"The VA has betrayed our veterans," Sullivan said

...snip



http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/articleid/8095

July 25: VCS Oral Testimony for House Veterans' Affairs Commitee

Paul Sullivan, Executive Director, VCS

Jul 25, 2007

Oral Testimony of Paul Sullivan, Executive Director, Veterans for Common Sense

July 25, 2007 - Chairman Filner and members of the committee, thank you for inviting Veterans for Common Sense to testify about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Personality Disorder Discharges among our Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans.

My testimony focuses on offering solutions so our veterans receive prompt medical care and disability benefits for PTSD.

The Department of Defense has discharged more than 22,000 veterans in the past five years with a personality disorder, or PD. The current DoD system assumes our soldiers are malingering, and the current VA system is designed to fight fraudulent claims.

The DoD and VA barriers to prevent abuse of the system are blocking too many deserving veterans from getting the high-quality VA medical care and prompt disability benefits they need.

When the military uses PD to discharge a veteran who fought honorably, then the military is breaking its own rules. Chapter 5-13 states that if a veteran was in combat, then the military is generally prohibited from using PD. VA’s recent review of PTSD claims found no evidence of fraud.

A veteran discharged with PD is usually denied VA healthcare and benefits based on VA rules prohibiting services for a pre-existing condition.

Here are VA’s latest statistics about PTSD. As of March 31, VA diagnosed 52,375 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans with PTSD. However, VA approved only 19,000 PTSD claims. This disparity should be investigated.

VCS urges Congress to adopt the robust package of policies listed in our written statement so Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with PTSD receive prompt medical care and benefits. Here are our top three proposals:

First, Congress should legislate a presumption of service connection for veterans diagnosed PTSD who deployed to a war zone after 9/11. A presumption makes it easier for dedicated and hard-working VA employees to process veterans’ claims. This results in faster medical treatment and benefits for our veterans.

Second, the military should stop discharging Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans using PD. The military should review all personality disorder discharges for veterans deployed since 9/11. Congress should order VA to review applications for healthcare and benefits where PD was an issue.

Third, DoD and VA should establish a policy to reduce the stigma against people with mental health conditions that military studies confirm hinders many of our war veterans from seeking care.

The scope of PTSD in the long term is enormous and must be taken seriously. When all of our 1.6 million service members eventually return home from Iraq and Afghanistan, based on the current rate of 20 percent, VA may face up 320,000 total new veterans diagnosed with PTSD.

In conclusion, if America fails to act now and overhaul the broken DoD and VA disability systems, there may a social catastrophe among many of our returning Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. That is why VCS reluctantly filed suit against VA in Federal Court last week. Time is running out.

The consequences of failure among our veterans are severe – including broken families, lost jobs, stigma, drug abuse, alcoholism, crime, homelessness, and suicide.

The disastrous consequences are preventable, yet our window of opportunity to prevent these problems is closing.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will be glad to answer your questions.




here is a link to complete testimony by VCS
http://veterans.house.gov/hearings/schedule110/july07/07-25-07/7-25-07sullivan.shtml




and full witness list with links to testimony of various speakers

http://veterans.house.gov/hearings/schedule110/july07/07-25-07/witness.shtml

WITNESS LIST

House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs

Full Committee Hearing on
PTSD and Personality Disorders: Challenges for the VA

July 25, 2007, 10:00 A.M.
Room 334, Cannon House Office Building