Funds for Health Care of Veterans $1 Billion Short
2005 Deficit Angers Senate Republicans, Advocacy Groups

By Thomas B. Edsall
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 24, 2005; Page A29

The Bush administration, already accused by veterans groups of seeking inadequate funds for health care next year, acknowledged yesterday that it is short $1 billion for covering current needs at the Department of Veterans Affairs this year.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/23/AR2005062301888.html

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

Introduction

Budget shortfalls and outsourcing remain serious threats to VA employees and veterans.

AFGE’s 150,000 members who work at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) are deeply committed to providing veterans with the health care, benefits and other services they need. They are honored to contribute to a health care system that is recognized as “the true future in American health care” (New York Times) and to work in hospitals viewed as “models of top-notch care” (U.S. News and World Report). They took great pride when Secretary R. James Nicholson praised VA’s “heroic staff” for their role in Hurricane Katrina and Rita rescues. Many AFGE members at the VA are veterans themselves, and they work closely with veterans groups at the national and local levels to ensure veteran access to quality health care and benefits.

So why are VA employees and veterans getting mixed signals? Year after year, the Administration proposes inadequate funding for health care in the face of growing demand. The Administration keeps trying to balance the VA budget on the backs of veterans through co-pays and enrollment fees. The Administration pressures the VA to outsource jobs to private contractors even though contracting out wastes taxpayer dollars and diminishes health care.

http://www.afge.org/index.cfm?page=veteransaffairs&Fuse=Content&ContentID=760

VFW Terms President's VA Budget Proposal Harmful to Veterans
VFW Appeals to Congress for Relief

Washington, D.C., Feb. 2, 2004--"The president ignored veterans in the State of the Union Address and with today's release of his 2005 budget, it is further evident that veterans are no longer a priority with this administration," said the leader of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S., expressing dismay at the disgraceful 1.8% increase in veterans' medical care funding. "We look to Congress to reject the president's inadequate proposal and to provide a budget that fully acknowledges the debt our nation owes its veterans."

VFW Commander-in-Chief Edward S. Banas Sr., of Voluntown, Conn., said that with only a $500 million increase in medical funding, the administration's budget falls $2.6 billion short of what the Independent Budget recommends is needed to fully meet the demands for quality veterans' health care. "This funding package is a disgrace and a sham," Banas said.

http://www.vfw.org/index.cfm?fa=news.newsDtl&did=1576

You, as a supporter of our troops, will now call the VFW liars?

WASHINGTON -- The Army's new acting surgeon general said yesterday that she is concerned about long-term morale because the military lacks money to hire enough nurses and mental health specialists to treat thousands of troops coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

"When the original plans were made, we did not take into consideration we could be in a long war," said Major General Gale Pollock. She became surgeon general this month after Kevin Kiley was forced to resign in a scandal over poor treatment of war-wounded at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

"We have not been able to do the hiring," Pollock told a House Armed Services subcommittee.

She testified at the first of two congressional hearings yesterday on veterans' care during which lawmakers expressed impatience with the Bush administration's efforts. They said years of communication gaps between the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments have yet to be fixed.

Testimony from officials from the two departments highlighted the difficulties that lie ahead for the Bush administration in fixing problems following reports of shoddy outpatient treatment and bureaucratic delays at Walter Reed Medical Center.

Addressing a Senate panel, Michael Kussman, executive-in-charge of the Veterans Health Administration, and Ellen Embrey, deputy assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, defended their efforts to improve coordination that would speed healthcare to injured troops and veterans.

Embrey said the departments have taken steps to strengthen joint committees and place each other's personnel in Pentagon and VA-run facilities.

Senator Richard Burr, Republican of North Carolina, cited a recent Government Accountability Office report that the two departments still fail to share health records electronically.

"We're now in the fifth year of this armed conflict," said Burr, of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. "At what point do we actually look at what's going on and implement changes?"

http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/other/articles/2007/03/28/veterans_care_underfunded_general_says/

Of course there are criticisms that Pollock herself was involved in another insult to our veterans:

According to ABC News and The Nation journalist Joshua Kors, Pollock covered up a scandal involving personality disorder discharges from the military. [4]. Pollock released a memo claiming that her office had conducted a careful review of a series of personality disorder discharges from Fort Carson, Colorado. According to Kors the review was "a sham".[5] According to Kors, Pollock's office did not contact a single soldier, and merely checked with officials who made the official diagnoses at Ft. Carson and asked if they got it right the first time. [6]When the officials naturally said yes, Pollock's office closed the review. [7][8] Pollock's actions have been criticized by the Iraq War Veterans Organization[9][10] and Veterans for America[11].

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gale_Pollock