VA Health Care Crisis!!

[Gimpy]

Below is a statement from the National Adjudant of the Disabled American Veterans that describes the sorry state of affairs our VA health care system is becoming. We ALL need to write---call---E-mail our elected officials and DEMAND this be corrected.

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From the National Adjutant

Worsening Crisis in VA Health Care
Arthur H. Wilson, National Adjutant



The President's signature barely had time to dry on the 2002 Department of Veterans Affairs appropriations bill when VA health care directors were ordered to start cutting costs because of a budget shortfall. All across the country, regional networks and local medical facilities were told they need to reduce staffing, consolidate procurement, and ramp up billing operations at a time when more veterans are turning to VA for health care.


Funding for veterans health care this year is $1.5 billion below the amount recommended by The Independent Budget. The $21.3 billion appropriation will not even pay for the mandated wage increase for VA employees, much less cover the rising cost of direct patient care.


Veterans hospitals, nursing homes, and clinics have been struggling for years to meet increasing demand while Congress and the Administration have refused to provide enough money to keep pace with the soaring health care costs.


Even though this year's VA health care funding is just over 5% more than in 2001, it lags far behind the government's own assessment of national health care costs. According to the federal Department of Health and Human Services, health care costs shot up nearly 7% in 2000 and are expected to rise even higher in the future.


The veterans health care system is already in crisis, and the situation is rapidly getting worse. Because of expected funding shortages, VA health care networks have been told they must come up with a 2% "efficiency" cut. That could mean the loss of thousands of full-time employees. This pressure on the system will especially hurt sick and service-connected disabled veterans and affect their access to timely health care.


We continually receive reports of VA facilities having long waiting lists for initial services once a veteran is enrolled in the system, as well as closed enrollment at some hospitals. But most disturbing are reports of severely disabled veterans having to wait for health care and specialized services.


It is outrageous that hospital directors, already struggling to meet demand, are now being forced to make further cuts. New mandates coupled with an inadequate budget will result in rationed health care and closed enrollment. Medical directors will have no choice but to close beds, consolidate services, and cut back on the number of full-time employees.


The Administration and Congress can no longer ignore the serious financial problems VA is facing and its disastrous impact on sick and disabled veterans. VA must have the resources it needs to maintain a viable health care system now and in the future.


VA medical care funding needs to be increased to $24.5 billion in 2003 to ensure a secure and stable future for those who have served our nation through military service.


If the Administration and Congress truly want to honor veterans with appropriate benefits and services for their service and sacrifice for our nation, VA health care should be an entitlement.


Just as last year's enactment of TRICARE for Life legislation provides an entitled benefit that military longevity retirees richly deserve, the men and women injured during combat and in military service to this nation, who will bear the burdens of those disabilities for a lifetime, deserve no less than those who made the military a career.


After all, why should sick and disabled veterans have to fight year after year for timely access to health care they have earned and rightfully deserve?


Making veterans health care an entitlement for the men and women who have served and sacrificed for America is a right they have earned.

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[blues clues]

The first thing i saw this morning in my news paper was the closing of VA hospitals starting in 2003 no word on which ones, sure am glad that this adm. is a friend of the veteran with friend's like this we don't need any more enemeys.
razz

[Gimpy]

I've posted the entire article for all to read below here.

Be very, very wary and distrustful of this so-called "economic re-structuring". This is some of the same $hit old Newt Gingrich was preaching when he was speaker of the House of representatives.

Republicans (and some Demos to be honest, but MOSTLY Repubs) seem to be unable to adequately FUND the VA health care system with any thing LESS than "bare-bones" (or less) funding. Sooooooo, their "solution" to the "problem" is to ELIMINATE some of the "areas" (hospitals, clinics, nurseing homes, etc.) where these "funds" are needed---therefore "solving" their inability to meet the budget requirements to operate the system!

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Jun 6, 2002


Veterans Affairs To Evaluate, Redeploy Medical Resources
By LAURA MECKLER
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Veterans hospitals across the country could be closed as the Department of Veterans Affairs shifts its focus to outpatient care and works to bring services closer to people who need them.

The massive restructuring, being announced today, will touch every community where the VA operates, though decisions about specific cities and hospitals won't be made for more than a year. In some cities, hospitals are likely to be closed or operations scaled back; in others, services will be added.

``This is not about the closure of facilities. It's about continuing the change in VA health care and changing it for the better,'' Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs Leo S. Mackay Jr. said.

Decisions about where to cut and where to add will be made after analyses of demographics and services available at 163 hospitals and more than 1,000 clinics, nursing homes and other health care facilities.

An independent, nine- member commission is to make recommendations to the VA secretary in August 2003. As with recommendations on military base closings, the secretary must accept or reject the plan as a whole - an attempt to minimize the politics surrounding the closure of sometimes cherished institutions.

Neither James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital in Tampa nor the VA Medical Center at Bay Pines in Pinellas County is expected to be at risk. Florida is the busiest VA region in the country, said Bay Pines spokesman Larry Christman, and Haley is the busiest VA hospital in the state, with Bay Pines second. Haley is the busiest veterans hospital in the country.

``We have no plans to close,'' said Carolyn Clark, spokeswoman for Haley hospital. ``We're heading full steam ahead.''

Some veterans are concerned that the VA may be dismantling an infrastructure that is part of the national homeland security plan. And they worry that some veterans will lose access to care.

``While they keep saying they're improving services, they are drastically cutting services,'' said Bruce Parry, 55, of Veterans for Unification, a Chicago advocacy group. ``The result will be the VA serves fewer veterans, and as people find it less attractive, they will have further excuses for shutting more down in the future.''

The national overhaul, recommended by government auditors in 1999, is aimed at shifting dollars away from aging, inefficient facilities in communities where the number of veterans is shrinking in order to provide modern medicine closer to where veterans of the future will live.

The 1999 audit, by the General Accounting Office, predicted that without change, the VA would spend billions of dollars to operate unneeded buildings - with as much as one of every four VA health care dollars devoted to maintenance and operation.

It's easier said than done. In a pilot program in one region, the VA opted to cut inpatient service from a downtown Chicago hospital and expand services at other facilities. Veterans groups were outraged, and VA officials are pledging to consider their opinions upfront as the market analyses begin.

The GAO suggested that the greatest potential for savings was in 40 cities where there is more than one VA hospital. These hospitals have a significant number of empty beds and compete to serve ``rapidly declining veteran populations,'' auditors said.

VA officials declined to speculate as to which hospitals might close and said their goal is not to cut services but to redeploy them to areas where they are needed more. They emphasized that hospital beds are not needed for the VA's new emphasis on outpatient care.

``We're looking to allocate our resources more efficiently, in ways that keep pace with the American medical system,'' Mackay said.

The plan is years overdue but will be challenging to carry out, said Cynthia Bascetta, who oversees veterans health care issues for the GAO. She said private hospitals, veterans groups and community leaders all have a stake in what services are offered and where.

``It's going to take a lot of courage to make sure all of the stakeholders keep their eye on making sure what's done is ultimately in the benefit of the veteran,'' she said.

The initial analyses will be done market by market and then on a regional level, but in the end, Mackay said, dollars could shift from one part of the country to another.


Tribune reporter George Coryell contributed to this report.

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Get ready guys & gals---we're about to get SCREWED!! AGAIN!!

[DMZ-LT]

Thanks for standing guard Gimp. Loved seeing you on TV at the VA a year an1/2 half ago when they caught those people ripping off us.

[Arrow]

Fee Based Care is what they are working towards. That means freeing up dollars spent on facilities, wages paid, insurance etc to employees. The guise of course that more money will go to the Veteran for health care. If you believe that I invite you to log on to nevergonnahappen.com for a reality check.

My guess is they shut down these facilites many Veterans will give up seeking any kinda of medical help at all. It is a very big deal for some to seek medical attention esp the guys. Hunting through a telephone directory to beg for someone to take your government backed insurance will be the final straw for some.

Not to mention the fact that there are issues that the civilian medical community is not equipped to handle given the fact that most of their knowledge of AO related disease, combat related PTSD, GWS could fit on the end of a pin. IMHO.

Don't get me wrong I am not a big fan of the VA but I believe if we can have excellent care in some places then we can have the same care in others with a real good house cleaning plus a whole lot of ass kickin'. Steve and I are in total agreement "you are about to get screwed again" little sparrow.

http://congress.org/congressorg/webr...alertid=129736