Department of Veterans Affairs Prepared to Deal With New Vets
By Bill Yelenak
WASHINGTON – The Veterans Affairs Department is “definitely better prepared than ever” to give aid to soldiers who complete their military duties after the war in Iraq, according to department spokesman Jim Benson.
Some in Connecticut, however, are not ready to share Benson’s confidence. They said they were uncertain that the state’s VA facilities would be able to handle an increased caseload.
There is no need to worry, Benson said, about the department being overwhelmed when new veterans come home from Iraq. Under a 1998 program, the VA will provide free medical care to veterans who are “returning from a combat zone” for up to two years, even without a medical issue connected to combat. Soldiers with medical issues stemming from military action can then request further assistance from the VA.
“We’ve allowed care to be given right away,” Benson said. “One of the criticisms before was not getting care to them as quickly as possible.”
However, Pamela Redmond, a spokeswoman for the VA Connecticut Healthcare System, said it was too soon to tell whether the war would cause a backlog in the state, saying it is “so early in the conflict to predict that at this point.”
Questions on availability of VA aid arose after the department said veterans whose incomes exceed specified thresholds could no longer be eligible for VA programs after Jan. 17, 2003. According to Benson, this mandate will last until Sept. 30, the end of the current fiscal year, at which point it could be ruled on again.
“The idea was partly to help give us a chance to work down the backlog of the people waiting for appointments,” he said. “That’s been a real frustrating issue for veterans, as well as for VA.”
Redmond said Thursday that the number of state veterans who have been turned away since Jan. 17 was unavailable.
However, the absence of the “Priority Group 8” veterans, who can no longer apply under the ruling, has made it possible for the program to be ready for veterans who come back from Iraq, Benson said.
He said VA Secretary Anthony J. Principi believes that the current limitation on medical care “helps protect the access to that care for those combat veterans because we’re relieving some of that pressure. Those folks will come in and we would be able to handle them.”
Benson added that the VA has been preparing for any combat illnesses soldiers may face after being in Iraq, including the addition of two research centers that would be “devoted strictly to war-related illnesses and treatment.”
“We’ve worked with the Department of Defense, and our physicians have developed standardized clinical practice guidelines because before, many physicians had not come in contact with those kinds of injuries or illnesses,” Benson said. “We’ve been blessed by not having to deal with a lot of combat-related things from challenging environments.”
Mike Kirk, spokesman for U.S. Rep. John Larson (D-1), said the VA was a major concern of veterans in the congressman’s district, and said there had been a “lot of complaints that they aren’t getting the level of service they would like.”
Kirk said one of the veterans’ biggest worries in previous years was that specialty care services might be moved from the Newington facility to the one in West Haven, leaving local veterans with a much longer commute to get treatment. The Newington facility remains.
Larson introduced legislation earlier this year designed to afford veterans easier access to care. Under the proposal, if the VA facilities could not handle all requests for care, veterans could go to a non-VA medical facility for treatment that would normally be covered by the agency and then bill the VA for it.
The bill would also include provisions to create electronic processing of claims and to improve the department’s assessment of waiting times for services.
“Basically, it’s a bill to ensure that if the VA can’t live up to its own standards, veterans will continue to get what they deserve,” Kirk said.
Brian Schubert, press secretary to U.S. Rep. Nancy Johnson (R-5), said the congresswoman was also planning to introduce legislation to aid veterans by speeding up the filling of their prescriptions.
Currently, certain groups of veterans must see a VA doctor, even if they have a prescription from their own doctor, to get their prescription filled at a VA facility, according to Schubert. He said the legislation would help to eliminate the backlog at many VA locations.
Bill Yelenak, a Boston University student, works at the Boston University Washington News Service in Washington, D.C. His telephone number is 202-756-2860 ext: 114 and his email is byelenak@newbritainherald.com.
Published in The New Britain Herald, in Connecticut.
