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The real problem with veterans' health care Lee: The real problem with veterans' health care

Roanoke Times - 7/31/2017

By Alma Lee

Lee, of Roanoke, is president of the AFGE National Veterans Affairs Council.

Working people at the Department of Veterans Affairs are public servants who have dedicated their careers to caring for our nation's veterans. They tend to those who have borne the battle, and sometimes are the only ones bedside as a veteran takes his or her final breaths.

VA workers are extremely passionate and driven in their work, but still face attacks about being the "problem" plaguing Washington and veterans in this country. It's an extremely disappointing - and quite frankly, offensive - narrative. Especially when people say such awful things without realizing that more than one-third of the VA's workforce are veterans themselves.

To help combat this growing false narrative being slung by partisan news outlets and insiders, I wanted to offer a few facts that point to the real problems at the VA, and how a dismantling of our country's largest, most important health care system would be catastrophic for millions of veterans.

FACT: The Independent Budget document (sponsored by three major veterans service organizations) found that Congress' 2017-2018 VA budget was 10 percent less than what the VA needs.

The Independent Budget recommended $77 billion in total medical care funding for last and this year, while Congress only budgeted for $70 billion. The bipartisan budget said that due to the ever-increasing demand for services at the VA, "this level of funding will not keep pace."

FACT: Secretary David Shulkin says 90 percent of VA facilities offer "same-day access," but 16 percent of outpatient panels are over-capacity right now.

First the good. It's wonderful that veterans can walk into almost any VA facility and get same-day access. But, it's far from good that almost one out of every five facilities is over-capacity - and it's not hard to understand why. There are more than 49,000 vacancies at the VA right now, and the patient population is only growing in size and needs. The VA can't keep up with the number of incoming patients if the administration won't make hiring a priority.

FACT: In his June Senate testimony, Disabled American Veterans Deputy National Legislative Director Adrian Atizado said, "The pyrrhic goal of unfettered and unlimited choice also carries with it the potential to delay and distort realistic plans to move forward with implementing the shared vision of the veterans community and most active users of the VA health care system."

In the Veterans of Foreign WarsMarch 2017 survey, "A Report Evaluating Veterans Health Care," 92 percent of respondents said they want the VA to invest in fixing their current deficiencies - not a private care card that forces them to wait in line outside the VA. Clearly, it's not just the financial aspect of the Choice program that's failing our veterans.

FACT: Health care now represents almost 20 percent of our country's gross domestic product.

It shouldn't come as a surprise then that several members of the Commission on Care that supported privatization of the VA came from hospital systems that would directly profit off the backs of veterans. Health care costs aren't coming down anytime soon, and the veteran population is growing at an exponential rate, so getting them into private, for-profit systems now means a lot more money for the ultra-wealthy. The problem is what that means for quality of care and costs to taxpayers. According to the Commission on Care's Final Report, creating and implementing a new private VHA system would cost the federal government $11 billion more than the VA's 2017 budget. If we're already seeing budget shortfalls now, how can we expect a higher price tag to help?

FACT: This problem is only going to get worse if Congress continues to address the wrong issues.

With almost 50,000 openings at VA medical centers nationwide, you'd think Congress and the administration would make hiring a priority. Sadly, it has not. Instead, we've had lawmakers self-congratulating one another for eroding public servants rights at work, while ignoring the real problem at hand. Compounding the complacency of Congress is the estimate that caring for the newest generation of veterans will cost more than $3 trillion. That either means the VA will be starved for resources as it struggles to care for veterans, or that private, for-profit corporations will make trillions as they stick veterans in the back of the line to receive the care they need.

It's no secret that the VA offers the best health care option in the country. Independent medical journals know it. The Commission on Care knows it. And most importantly, veterans know it. Shoving veterans out of the only system tailored to their unique needs so they can stand in line at private providers - where wait times far exceed those at the VA - doesn't help care for those who have already sacrificed so much for this country. It only lets them down.