Tags for This Article:

Congress (3240)  Military (3108)  World (1190)  Violence (936)  Health (870)  Health (807)  Veterans (677)  Congress (602)  Family (540)  Washington (396)  Technology (389)  Funding (291)  Veterans Iraq (286)  Veterans Neglected (278)  Veterans (246)  Veterans Admin VA (236)  Funding (177)  Veterans Post Tramatic Stress (164)  Hospital (162)  Veterans Benefits (148)  Veterans Mental Health (145)  Veterans Vietnam (128)  Veterans Handicapped (107)  Veterans For Peace (61)  Washington (57)  Washington (36)  Washington (21)  Young (21)  Washington (18)  Washington (17)  Washington (17)  Washington (15)  Washington (13)  Washington (13)  Washington (12)  Washington (11)  Washington (11)  Washington (11)  Washington (11)  Washington (10)  Washington (9)  Washington (9)  Washington (9)  Washington (9)  Washington (9)  Washington (8)  Washington (8)  Washington (7)  Washington (7)  Washington (7)  Washington (7)  Washington (6)  Washington (6)  Washington (6)  Washington (6)  Washington (4) 

Populum Tag Cloud
       Control Panel
Fine tune your search to access content
Articles
Diaries Products
Events All
All time
Last 6 mos
Last month
Last week
Last 24 hrs
From:
Month  Day   Year

To:
Month  Day   Year
Alphabet
Popularity
Count ON
Count OFF
This Level
Sub-levels

 

 

 

Tag(s): ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; (more...) ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;  (less...)
Add to My Group
October 18, 2007 at 17:51:32

Where Is The Funding For Veterans Affairs?

by Pat Smith     Page 1 of 1 page(s)

www.opednews.com

 
Tell A Friend

View Ratings | Rate It  

  How can problems that have existed for decades at the Veterans Affairs medical facilities be corrected in a few months, even with proper funding?  The VA could never help all veterans from past wars, with triple the amount of veterans and proper funding, at least 15 months is needed before any improvements will even be noticed.  So where is the funding?

   The VA could not meet the needs of all veterans from past wars and can NOT be expected to handle this increased case load PROPERLY for quite some time.  There is a temporary partial solution available now: A few mental health professionals--GiveanHour.org-- are actually donating their office and a few hours a month to some of our young veterans.  These are professional doctors who realize our new veteran's only need their expertise until the VA medical centers are properly funded enough to step into the 21st century.

  Several law firms in Washington, DC and NY have offered their time, pro bono to help our new veterans through this slow broken system.  Our local colleges can even help by offering in their paralegal courses a four credit class on "veteran benefits law". Many young veterans are still fighting a war to just receive proper medical treatment!  Our medical community can END this war now. The knowledge our medical community has already received from veterans of past wars needs to be used now on this relatively very small percentage of society.

  If just one-fourth of the more affluent private medical/mental health facilities used their offices and expertise just a few hours a month on our new veterans (pro-bono) every new veteran will have a chance to resume a comfortable life as a productive member of society.  When society needs it, Attorneys have done pro-bono for centuries.  Why are a few hours a month given to our young veterans (temporally) so hard a concept for the medical community to grasp when so much of the medical knowledge now available has come from the research done on our veterans and soldiers since WWI?

 Even when their military career is over, our veterans are still one of the main contributor's to our society, and the whole world. Just Google medications and ailments used world wide since WWI and you will find hundreds of thousands of research projects and study groups that have been done on our veterans and soldiers of all ages.

The research includes family violence and dysfunction, drug and alcohol abuse, homelessness, many kinds of cancer, prosthetics, erectile dysfunction, etc... (I could fill up volumes here) and at the end of the research data it states: this research has been done by the Dept. of Veterans Affairs or Walter Reed Army Hospital, etc... (I could fill up volumes here again). This is great for society world wide and the medical community as a whole, but it is sad our new young Veterans still have to beg and grovel for proper medical treatment when most of the medical technology available today has come from our Soldier's and Veterans!!! 

 So where is the funding?  For the fiscal year 2007 the Veterans budget was only 1.15%--one point one five percent of the federal budget.  The VA budget was only 1.15% of the federal budget and it is still not even a required mandatory spending item in the federal budget.  Why are we (veterans) STILL BEGGING??    

 

As a disabled female veteran I used my VA benefits to obtain a BA in the bs of political science. I am compelled to help our new veterans recieve a comfortable, productive future they so rigthly deserve.

Contact Author
Contact Editor
View Other Articles by Author

 

Bookmark this page: (what's this?)

NETSCAPE      DIGG THIS      Add This Page to Mr Wong!           NEWSVINE      DEl.ICIO.US      Looksmart Furl      My Web      Tag!RawSugar      Blink List     (More...)
Comments: Expand   Shrink   Hide  
2 comments

USAF 1986 - 1991Disabled VetMensa Member 1992
RLAnchorsUSAF 1986 - 1991Disabled VetMensa Member 1992

Still Fighting

One of the big problems surrounding what is going on at the VA is that the focus is almost solely on Iraq veterans. The public is not even aware that vets are still fighting for benefits for injuries from WWII. I've been fighting for 10 years myself. The really disgusting part is that once this war ends no one will give a sh*t about what happens to vets. The MSM will no longer bring it to anyone's attention and we will be expected to "fade away". Hell it took the MSM 3 years just to get around to the Walter Reed scandal!

by RLAnchors (7 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 39 comments) on Friday, October 19, 2007 at 3:07:09 PM
 


As a disabled female veteran I used my VA benefits to obtain a BA in the bs of political science. I am compelled to help our new veterans recieve a comfortable, productive future they so rigthly deserve.
Pat SmithAs a disabled female veteran I used my VA benefits to obtain a BA in the bs of political science. I am compelled to help our new veterans recieve a comfortable, productive future they so rigthly deserve.

fight for our young veterans...

Rugus, great point but when the medical community finally repays all veterans for the medical technology they now have, over half this battle will be over.  While these medical professionals are temporarily helping our young veterans actually "have a future", the VA in the public spotlight will momentarily be able to focus on things like PTSD and us old veterans.  The VA, our government—and our politicians already know why there has ALWAYS been funding available for medical research and NOT for proper medical treatment of veterans. This necessary war on terror has more than tripled the amount of veterans using the same VA facilities their grandfathers once did.  Our children and grandchildren deserve better.  Society as a whole cannot handle a few hundred thousand more veterans like me or you… 

by Pat Smith (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 41 comments) on Friday, October 19, 2007 at 4:47:34 PM
 

 

2 comments

 

Tell A Friend

 


Copyright © OpEdNews, 2002-2008

Blog Ads

 

 

 

 

Most Popular Articles
in the Last 2 Days
(by Recommend Emails)

Keith Olbermann Broke Up With Me! by Shannyn Moore

Children dying in Haiti, victims of food crisis exacerbated by four devastating tropical storms Posted by Stephen Fox

Study Confirms Genetically Modified Crops Threaten Human Fertility and Health Safety Posted by sadelaine

Surviving an Economic Crash: Resources and Tips by Kathryn Smith

SO SAY THE BANKERS: Learn to Love the 'AMERO' by Patrick Henningsen

Home Depot Founder: Retailers Who Don't Support GOP "Should Be Shot" Posted by Joan Brunwasser

A Turkey By Any Other Name--Is Still the Governor of Alaska by Brasch

Congress Opposes Bush Pardons by David Swanson

Fate of Lakotahs Highlights America's Failed Native American Policies by Stephen Lendman

Senate testimony by police captain reveals 9 sticks of missing dynamite in 'Omaha Two' bombing case by Michael Richardson

Go To Top 50 Most Popular