Department of Veterans Affairs Facing Staggering Burden of
Providing Health Care to Returning Troops
Since 03-20-06
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Department of Veterans Affairs Facing Staggering Burden of Providing Health Care
to Returning Troops
Army Sgt. Joey Bozik stretches out
in the physical therapy room with the help of his wife, Jayme, at the Walter
Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 19, 2005. (Larry
Downing/Reuters)
DONNA, Texas,
March 9, 2006 —
Eugene Simpson doesn't like to complain. Paralyzed in a bomb attack in Iraq, his
initial care was excellent, but ever since then he has felt adrift. "There are
thousands of soldiers in worse condition than I am, and they're OK," he said.
"They're making it." Getting to the nearest Veterans Administration hospital
that can best treat his paralysis means a three-hour roundtrip, and the VA isn't
paying for therapists closer to home.
So he does without. The numbers of war veterans enrolled in the U.S. Department
of Veterans Affairs has continued to grow, and many feel the strain. "I want to
excel and advance and get stronger," said Simpson. "But at the same time, I
don't want to pull a muscle or do the wrong exercise that can hurt a certain
part of my body, because then I'll be helpless." In Texas, a group of veterans
staged a protest march covering the distance to the nearest VA hospital: 250
miles.
"[It takes] four-and-a-half to five hours .. one way," said Vietnam War vet Polo
Uriesti. Uriesti said his father, a veteran of World War II, suffers a greater
hardship. But he said the headaches and flashbacks of post-traumatic stress
still flare up without warning. "I just … it chokes me up," said Uriesti. The VA
acknowledged some veterans suffer those problems but said most do not.
"Last year, 97 percent of veterans who came to us for a primary care appointment
got that appointment within 30 days, and 95 percent of those who came for an
acute care appointment got it within 30 days," said R. James Nicholson,
secretary of Veterans Affairs.
Audit: VA Fudged Reports But an inspector general's audit found real problems
with the way the VA has come up with those numbers.
The audit found that some VA staff, feeling "pressured," actually fudged the
numbers, and error rates were as high as 61 percent. In Atlanta, one veteran who
the VA said got an appointment within a week actually waited nearly a year.
Another veteran in Boston who reported seeing a VA doctor within hours actually
waited 472 days. The VA said it has been steadily improving the system, but many
veterans' groups worry the situation will only get worse as new Iraq veterans
keep pouring in.
"The numbers are simply going to overwhelm them, and they are not going to have
the proper funds to deal with these folks on a long-term, chronic basis," said
David Gorman of the advocacy group Disabled American Veterans. Uriesti worries
what his two sons, set to serve again in Iraq, may face if they need care, given
the gaps in the VA system so many veterans now face.
ABC News' Erin Hayes filed this report for "World News Tonight."
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Contributed,
YNCS Don Harribine, USN(ret)