Inadequate funding of the VA leaves many veterans untreated.
…testimony before U.S. District Court Judge Samuel Conti, Dr. Gerald Cross, the undersecretary for health at the Veterans Health Administration, made a startling admission during cross-examination by the plaintiffs’ attorneys that would appear to contradict the agency’s position.
Cross admitted that veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan were not only entitled to free healthcare, “there is no co-pay,” he said.
Perhaps most startling, however, was testimony by Cross stating that of the 300,000 veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars treated at VA hospitals, more than half were diagnosed with a serious mental condition, 68,000 of which were cases of PTSD.
It is a national shame, or it should be if anyone would acknowledge what is going on, but this country treats its veterans abominably. Both active duty and Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are committing suicide for lack of treatment.
Paul Sullivan, the executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, Paul Sullivan, said more than 5,000 veterans commit suicide per year.
Dr. Arthur Blank, a renowned expert on PTSD who has worked closely with the VA, testified that about 30 percent of Iraqi war veterans are likely suffering from PTSD due to multiple deployments and the VA is not doing enough to care for them.
“I think it’s because of multiple deployments, which means one is exposed to trauma over and over again,” Blank testified.
So why, with GOP rule (the guys who claim to support the troops), for so many years has veterans benefits fallen by the wayside? War is not horns and trumpets blowing and banners flying… war is hell and we should really consider what we are doing when we send our children out to fight one. Why the hell are we not supporting these veterans?
The next time you turn your nose up at a homeless person asking for food or a handout just remember that one in four of them served their country. One in four homeless are veterans who have been cast aside by this great patriotic nation.
