VA laboring under surge of wounded veterans

[unhappycamper]

VA laboring under surge of wounded veterans
By Jason Grotto and Tim Jones, Chicago Tribune
Stars and Stripes online edition, Sunday, April 18, 2010

CHICAGO — In a sobering reminder of the long-term costs of war, a dramatic spike in disability claims during the last seven years has overwhelmed the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and nearly doubled the cost of compensating wounded veterans, according to an unprecedented Chicago Tribune analysis.

The bulk of the increases didn't come from veterans of the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but from those who served years or even decades before. Veterans from the Vietnam and Persian Gulf eras accounted for roughly 84 percent of the rise in spending, which hit $34.3 billion last year.

The surge from past eras comes even as more soldiers than expected are returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan in need of care. With hundreds of thousands of troops still deployed, the VA already provides disability payments to nearly 200,000 veterans from the current conflicts, a number that is expected to balloon during the next 30 years.

The unanticipated crush of claims is exacerbated by the VA's antiquated compensation system, which hasn't been overhauled since 1945. Cumbersome and heavily bureaucratic, the system requires a mountain of paperwork, is based on diagnoses that lag far behind medical advances and runs on a computer system that is so outdated it can't accurately verify whether veterans were deployed.

The problems have led to a backlog at of least 500,000 claims — some veterans groups say it's as high as 1 million — that threatens the well-being of veterans with ailments ranging from brain injuries and back problems to cancers and mental disorders.



unhappycamper comment: Doesn't it seem a bit strange that the VA cannot tell if a veteran was deployed? Especially if the veteran provides a copy of his/her DD-214...

[era veteran]

1. Fuck the VA, I say this from personal experience

The Army uses you and throws you away. Try finding an elevator in a VA hospital that will lead you to their main administrative offices. They are private and secret, and for a damn good reason. I tried years ago and was surrounded by federal police. I had a kneecap in 47 pieces that had been 'fixed' with a pin and wire. I would go and complain of severe pain and the fucking triage 'clerk'
would say " you just want drugs" Yes, I would say because it hurts. "See you just want drugs" and the Catch 22 would start. Two years later with real insurance a private doctor asked me " How long has that stainless steel pin in your knee been broken?" I put up with excruciating pain for two years because of the cheap, lying, pricks at the VA. Nothing in my background would have suggested I was a druggie. The broken pin is out now but it took me years to get over the alcohol addiction I had, both to blunt the pain and to relieve me of the despair caused by my country pissing on this honorably discharged, permanently disabled
Veteran. FUCK THE V fucking A. Thanks for the rant. Peace Richard FYI sober now 20 years 5 months and 18 days!

[ShortnFiery]

2. The Army uses you and throws you away.

So true. I'm sorry to hear of your experiences yet I'm unsurprised. My older brother tells me of long waits at the VA hospitals but he's had better treatment experiences. He lucked out for a change. :shrug:

[Solly Mack]

3. How the fuck can it be "unanticipated "? Veterans get older they need more care...

...that should be a big DUH for most people....same as with the general population...with age comes increased illness/injury a good deal of the time. Old wounds/injuries from combat increases the likelihood of needing even more care. Same thing is going to happen with the current perpetual war...only worse. As they age, Iraq/Afghanistan (and everywhere else the war on terror is being waged) veterans will seek & need more medical care. This isn't some secret.


And how stupid/criminal is it that government didn't bother improving the system knowing full well that a vote for war means injured and disabled veterans?