In an online essay, institute Director of Health Policy Studies at Cato Institute Michael Cannon offered a radical idea to transform the Department of Veteran Affairs. Cannon suggests that free health care not be provided for veterans and instead provide better pay and vouchers for veterans to buy their own coverage.

Cannon also has recommended privatizing the Veterans Health Administration, which he believes would “improve the quality of veteran’s benefits immeasurably.”

The idea, despite some factors such as expanding private care options for veterans, has been widely opposed by individuals all over the political spectrum. Republicans, including President-elect Donald Trump, are in favor of providing veterans with more private health care options but have never mentioned plans to completely rid veteran’s benefits. Democrats and veteran groups are completely opposed to privatization of VA functions arguing that these physicians lack expertise or motivation to handle difficult service-connected injuries.

The common belief amongst many is that not only is this idea radical, but it is also a ridiculous idea provided from the Cato Institute think tank. The strict privatization of health care for veterans would almost certainly result in veterans paying out of pocket for their medical care, despite the vouchers received. Medical care is the least we can provide our veterans for the sacrifices of them and their families.

Sgt. John W. Perry was one of two individuals killed in an explosion at a United States airbase on November 12^th. Perry, 30, along with PFC. Tyler R. Iubelt died from injuries after an attack by an apparent suicide bomber at Bagram Airfield.

Stewart Perry, John’s father, along with wife, Kathy, and daughter were flying to Philadelphia where they were to travel to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to receive John’s remains. Departing from Sacramento, the family had a quick transfer in Phoenix. Afraid that the Perry family would miss their flight to Philadelphia after a 45 minute delay in Sacramento, the captain of the flight announced that all passengers should remain seated to let a “special military family” exit the aircraft first. The family then proceeded to receive boos and complaints for their preferential treatment.

“It was really disgusting on the passengers’ part,” Stewart said in an interview, “It was just disgusting behavior from people in first class; it was terrible to see.”

Of course, Mr. Perry had nothing negative to say about American Airlines, who had accommodated him and his family in the exchange. Perry said, “You could see the disappointment from the flight crew.”

Instances such as these are a product of the disconnect between the American public and the sacrifices of military families. We encourage individuals to be thankful of veterans and active duty and to take into consideration the burden they bear. A greater awareness of the military’s role is a positive step that will combat the negative consequences of a military disconnected from the national conscience.

The University of Michigan and the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System teamed up to study the effects of mindfulness training among veterans suffering from PTSD; the positive results of the study came as a surprise even to the researchers. Mindfulness training can be thought of as a form of meditation and yoga.

Veterans often describe their PTSD symptoms as “an endless video loop, horrible memories, and thoughts… they intrude at the quietest moments, and don’t seem to have an off switch.” Researchers hoped that mindfulness training could create that “off switch” these veterans are lacking.

The study was completed over 4 months of weekly sessions where veterans learned to focus on in-the-moment attention and awareness. The surprising effects were realized when researchers compared the pre- and post-study fMRI (functional MRI) brain scans.

Prior to the training, there was extra activity in brain regions involved in responding to threats or other outside problems. This extra activity is what causes that endless cycle of memories and bad thoughts. After the training, though, this activity diminished significantly.

Researchers say that veterans were able to literally change their brain by “developing stronger connections between two other brain networks: the one involved in our inner, sometimes meandering, thoughts, and one involved in shifting and directing attention.” Simply put, the participants could now get themselves out of being “stuck” in those memory loops. Participants also saw decreased scores on a standard scale of PTSD severity.

http://www.newswise.com/articles/brain-changes-seen-in-veterans-with-ptsd-after-mindfulness-training#.VzU1ZzLLApE.linkedin

The University of Michigan and the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System teamed up to study the effects of mindfulness training among veterans suffering from PTSD; the positive results of the study came as a surprise even to the researchers. Mindfulness training can be thought of as a form of meditation and yoga.

Veterans often describe their PTSD symptoms as “an endless video loop, horrible memories, and thoughts… they intrude at the quietest moments, and don’t seem to have an off switch.” Researchers hoped that mindfulness training could create that “off switch” these veterans are lacking.

The study was completed over 4 months of weekly sessions where veterans learned to focus on in-the-moment attention and awareness. The surprising effects were realized when researchers compared the pre- and post-study fMRI (functional MRI) brain scans.

Prior to the training, there was extra activity in brain regions involved in responding to threats or other outside problems. This extra activity is what causes that endless cycle of memories and bad thoughts. After the training, though, this activity diminished significantly.

Researchers say that veterans were able to literally change their brain by “developing stronger connections between two other brain networks: the one involved in our inner, sometimes meandering, thoughts, and one involved in shifting and directing attention.” Simply put, the participants could now get themselves out of being “stuck” in those memory loops. Participants also saw decreased scores on a standard scale of PTSD severity.

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is leading the charge to end sex crimes in the military by giving a panel of seasoned, independent military trial lawyers the power to decide whether to prosecute sexual assault cases. Currently, this power is held by a small number of high-ranking military officials. Senator Gillibrand argues in her proposal before Congress that this power structure is the very reason why sexual assault goes practically unpunished in the military.

After examining 329 sexual assault cases that occurred in 2014 at U.S. bases, she found that “the case files suggest a continued large-scale systemic failure and an ingrained culture that protects the accused and ostracizes the survivor at the expense of the public and our service members’ safety.”

From the top down, military officials tend to suppress sex crime allegations as much as possible, often at the expense of the victim. The same holds true in the military justice system, where the high-ranking members would rather sweep allegations of rape under the rug rather than follow through with prosecution in order to uphold the integrity of the military. There were several cases that were closed prematurely even though military investigators determined that a sex crime more than likely occurred.

Missing from these heavily redacted files was a single reported instance of prosecution of an individual who retaliated against the alleged victim for reporting the incident. Senator Gillibrand was troubled by this because prior studies have shown that more than 60% of sexual assault victims believed they faced a form of retaliation from commanders or peers. We are left to assume that retaliation cases are dismissed just as those involving sexual assault/misconduct.

The goal of the Senator’s proposal is to remove the in-group bias from the prosecution decision by putting it in the hands of independent attorneys who are well-versed in military trials. This group, she hopes, will not shy away from prosecuting sexual assault cases because they are immune from institutional pressures that plague the current system.

With each tragic story of a suicide, the same question is asked: “why didn’t they talk to someone or seek out help?” As a society, we want to believe that there is always someone out there to talk to; always an outstretched hand just waiting for you to take hold. Well, it turns out this notion is not true for our military veterans.

A congressional hearing on VA appropriations uncovered the disgusting and inexcusable management of the VA suicide hotline. Apparently the VA doesn’t think that suicides are time-sensitive emergencies because the VA hotline sends callers straight to voicemail; never to return their calls.

When asked to provide the call center statistics, the VA refused to comply. VA undersecretary Dr. Shulkin also went on record to say that this is not the VA’s fault; telling Congress that it was a contractor’s problem. Of course, the VA refused to identify who this contractor was, nor would they disclose the name of the VA employee in charge of the hotline.

It’s hard to imagine that incoming calls being directed straight to voicemail were anything more than a technological mistake; but we’re talking about the VA after all, nothing is too outlandish.  An inspector general’s investigation into a Veteran Crisis Line (VCL) backup center revealed that the staff did not even know a voicemail system existed, and so no calls were ever returned. Further, nearly 90% of call center operators did not complete their training and over half did not take the post orientation test.

The VA must correct this procedure immediately, another loss of life is inexcusable.

To read the full story, visit: http://dailycaller.com/2016/03/03/veteran-kills-himself-after-call-to-va-suicide-hotline-goes-to-voicemail/

Reports of the Minneapolis and Amarillo VA hospitals’ misdiagnosis of traumatic brain injuries (TBI) for veteran patients are disturbing and unacceptable. Over 300 veterans at the Minneapolis VAMC and 70 at the Amarillo VAMC were screened for TBI by an unqualified doctor or by a nurse practitioner.  As a result, veterans were misdiagnosed and denied both TBI benefits and treatment.

Since TBI’s are so complex, it is VA policy for an evaluation to be conducted by one of four specialists: neurosurgeons, neurologists, psychiatrists, and physiatrists. Violations of this policy have already been confirmed at the Minneapolis and Amarillo VAMCs; but officials don’t know how widespread this is. Congressional leaders are now calling for the VA to conduct an internal nationwide review while the local news station who first broke the story has filed a Freedom of Information Act asking for information on every veteran who was diagnosed by an unqualified medical examiner.

It’s disappointing that a VA doctor would not have enough respect for the veteran patient, nor for the entire medical field to which he/she belongs, to ensure a proper TBI diagnosis is rendered. This is especially true today, where the concussion epidemic in the NFL has forced brain injuries into the limelight. Yet, certain VA hospitals took shortcuts for the sake of saving time and money.  Not only will veterans have been denied compensation and medical treatment, but also left to cope with the misdiagnosis that their issues are just a figment of their imagination. That is a heavy burden to bear alone in our society.

If both TBI’s and sports-related concussions are confirmed to be causes of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), shouldn’t this gross mistreatment of veterans be a bigger story?

See the news story here: http://www.kare11.com/news/investigations/kare-11-investigates-va-expands-investigation-of-unqualified-doctors/65062741

Earlier this year, the RAND Research Corporation published their study on the state of affairs for military veterans in the Metro Detroit area. More specifically, the purpose was to identify and propose solutions to the issues that veterans with mental health issues face when seeking out healthcare.

The most common barrier to treatment shared by veterans was the lack of awareness of available resources and treatment options. Other issues included: the difficultly of navigating the VA health care system; poor public transportation infrastructure in Metro Detroit; negative perceptions held by family members and VA medical staff toward veterans and their mental health issues; and finally lack of awareness that a mental health issue existed in the first place.

Unfortunately, this study was neither innovative nor impressive; it simply offers lofty goals but no plans on how to reach them or how each fits within the Metro Detroit culture. The RAND Corporation should take the study a step further to address issues and propose solutions for each of the three counties that make up Metro Detroit.

http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR1346.html

The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) recently began to scan and digitally store the multitude of documents received from veterans during the claims process in order to increase efficiency and reduce paper waste. On its face, this idea of a paperless claims process seems to be one of those rare instances in which the Veterans Administration is acting in the interests of those it is intended to serve. What’s not to love about an environmentally conscious initiative that will grant applicants access to all documents during the claims process via the internet, thereby reducing the claims processing time?

Well, it seems as though this was an empty promise. Per usual, the VA carried out this digital transition consistent with its longstanding tradition of incompetence. At best, VA employees were ill-prepared and overwhelmed by the volume of work that was required to complete this. The more likely story is that the VA sought to push their workload and responsibilities onto a third party, inevitably delaying the claims process.

The idea of an efficient Veterans Administration is a paradox, and this paradox is best displayed in the recent investigative report conducted by the VA Office of Inspector General on the St. Petersburg Regional Office (RO). Initiated after receiving a tip from St. Petersburg RO employees, inspectors looked into the nearly 30-day increase in average wait time for claims processing.

From June 2014 to December 2015, the average wait time at the St. Petersburg RO jumped from 152 days to 179 days. What’s troubling is that VA officials announced an 88% decrease in backlogged claims during the same time period. Additionally, the St. Petersburg RO was well-underway in the digital transition that was supposed to result in a reduction in the claims processing wait time. So what went wrong?

In order to carry out this digital transition, the VA contracted out the scanning process to CACI International. VA employees were to compile the hardcopy documents received from veterans, place the organized file into boxes, and ship them to the CACI scanning center for digital conversion and storage. The program’s reliance on VA employees to effectively carry out this new responsibility seemed problematic from the start, not to mention the unnecessary addition of a third party transaction for the sake of efficiency.

As it turns out, you cannot teach an old dog new tricks. Investigators uncovered a backlog of nearly 1,600 boxes and 42,000 packages sent by mail. Contained within these boxes and packages were individual claims sitting unprocessed at the CACI scanning center. The mountain of unprocessed claims was a result of the St. Petersburg office’s “inefficient preparation and handling of veteran-provided documentation.”

The boxes received by the CACI were filled with loose papers with sensitive information for multiple veterans along with irrelevant documents such as blank pages. The result was a nearly tenfold increase of unprocessed veteran claims materials shipped from St. Petersburg to the CACI center.

Even those documents lucky enough to be processed were taking six times as long as they were supposed to. Far more problematic than the slower processing time was the post-scan storage of this sensitive information. Apparently, CACI thought it would be okay to toss them into the nearest utility closet: “We [VA Office of Inspector General] observed a large amount of hard copy sensitive veteran information haphazardly commingled with contractor company documentation, excess office furniture, and empty computer boxes that appeared to be trash.”

According to investigators, this was not an issue of CACI employment misconduct, but rather inadequate VA oversight. The VA seized the opportunity to lighten the workload and didn’t find it necessary to ensure safe and speedy processing of claims at the scanning center. The report says the unattended claims were “potentially vulnerable to loss, theft, and misuse to include identity theft or fraud.” Needless to say, many documents that veterans submitted to the VA never got scanned into the system or properly attached to the veteran’s file.

So once again, the VA shows how little value is placed on veterans disability claims. The real losers here are the unidentified number of veterans who suffered a longer claims process time, or worse, the loss of their claim altogether. This report affirms the importance of retaining competent representation when filing or appealing a benefits claim with the VA. Don’t rely on the good faith of the VA employees to carry out your claim.

We have a national practice representing veterans from across the country. This representation occurs at the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, the Board of Veterans’ Appeals and regional offices. We have helped veterans collect over $10,000,000 in retro and future benefits. Over the years, Legal Help for Veterans has become a trusted name in the legal community for providing legal services to veterans.

VA just announced today that eight medical conditions that are linked to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina from 1953 to 1987, will become presumptive disabilities allowing for service connection. Currently, Camp Lejeune veterans who had exposure to the contaminated water during that time period and have those eight conditions are eligible for free VA health care or reimbursement for medical costs. With these new regulations, those veterans can also become presumptively service connected for those disabilities. The disabilities include kidney cancer, liver cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, leukemia, multiple myeloma, scleroderma, Parkinson’s disease, and aplastic anemia or other myelodysplastic syndromes. This means that the widows/widowers/dependents of these veterans who died from these diseases are also eligible for DIC benefits.

Veterans who have previously been denied for these claims may seek to have their previous claims reevaluated. For those veterans who currently have claims pending for these conditions, those claims will be put on hold with VA until the final regulations are released. No timeline was given by VA for this task to be completed.

VA just announced today that eight medical conditions that are linked to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina from 1953 to 1987, will become presumptive disabilities allowing for service connection. Currently, Camp Lejeune veterans who had exposure to the contaminated water during that time period and have those eight conditions are eligible for free VA health care or reimbursement for medical costs. With these new regulations, those veterans can also become presumptively service connected for those disabilities. The disabilities include kidney cancer, liver cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, leukemia, multiple myeloma, scleroderma, Parkinson’s disease, and aplastic anemia or other myelodysplastic syndromes. This means that the widows/widowers/dependents of these veterans who died from these diseases are also eligible for DIC benefits.

Veterans who have previously been denied for these claims may seek to have their previous claims reevaluated. For those veterans who currently have claims pending for these conditions, those claims will be put on hold with VA until the final regulations are released. No timeline was given by VA for this task to be completed.