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April 24, 2007
FloridaToday.com
Our view: A moral responsibility
Health care reforms sought by Iraq and Afghanistan veterans group deserve passage
 The scandal of wounded Iraq and Afghanistan veterans living in slum conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center has slipped from the front pages, but it's not forgotten.
Wounded soldiers are venting their frustration and anger at hearings before the presidential commission formed to investigate the problem there and with the entire military-veterans health care system.
Their stories break the heart as they describe understaffed hospitals overwhelmed with wounded, great difficulty receiving care and bureaucratic indifference to their suffering.
Even worse, it's a mere sampling of the unconscionable situation facing many of the nearly 24,000 wounded troops.
Former Republican Sen. Bob Dole, who was severely wounded in World War II and is the commission's co-chair, says the panel will make recommendations this summer.
But President Bush, Congress and the public don't have to wait that long to know what should be done immediately.
The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America have spelled it out in a package of major reforms that's a moral call for the nation to live up to its promise to care for the men and women our nation has sent into the blood and gore of war.
The measures -- which are gaining bipartisan traction in the wake of the Walter Reed revelations -- deserve the support of every American and passage by Congress.
They include:
Assured long-term funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs, such as the $6 billion budget hike recently approved by Congress.
$500 million for research on the hallmark injuries of the current wars -- mental-health disorders, brain and spinal injuries, and amputations.
An expansion of the Benefits Delivery and Discharge Program to all troops, including a complete medical examination within 90 days of finishing a combat tour.
This examination should include:
A physical examination for undiagnosed blast injuries; a mandatory and confidential counseling session with a mental health professional; and, for those leaving the service, a mandatory meeting with a VA official about VA benefits and mental health services.
$2.5 billion over the next five years for VA mental health programs, including combat vets receiving six-month, one-year and two-year follow up calls for mental health counseling.
Better data-sharing between the Pentagon and VA, including completely transferable and interoperational electronic medical records.
An outreach plan to inform Reserve troops they are eligible for TRICARE, the military's health care system, and a study of National Guardsmens' and Reservists' local access to care.
A study to examine and make recommendations to improve the access of women to VA health services, particularly mental-health care.
While desperately needed, all of this is just a down payment on what the physically and emotionally scared veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan will need for decades to come.
Providing those services must become -- and remain -- a national priority.
Anything less will be a gross dereliction of duty on the part of Congress and every American, for whom the veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan have given so much.
View the original article on FloridaToday.com.
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