MILITARY AND VETERAN-HEALTH-CARE REPORT SHOWS HOW TO HEAL WOUNDS
Here's our Editorial from today's Daily News. Let me know what you think, and remember you can find related pieces in our Support and Defend section.
THE REPORT FROM the President's Commission on Care for America's Returning Wounded Warriors delivered to President Bush on Wednesday isn't full of scathing details or outraged anecdotes about the hoops we have forced wounded soldiers to jump through for decent health care.
Then again, it doesn't have to be: The very idea that we have continually failed to properly treat our military for the physical and mental wounds suffered while defending us is a scathing enough truth.
The report, called "Serve, Support, Simplify" is compelling, though. In 29 concise pages, it oulines 35 steps that Congress, the Department of Defense and the Veterans Administration must take to fix a shamefully broken system.
Former Sen. Bob Dole, a wounded World War II veteran, and former Heath and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala deserve credit for running their commission in a professional, serious, and deliberate manner. Said Dole, "We weren't going to have a whitewash or a witch hunt. These are really bold recommendations."
Among the panel's calls to action were:
These recommendations will go a long way toward stopping more veterans and troops from falling through the bureaucratic cracks that they have long slipped through.
The report itemizes not only the steps required to rectify our inattention to the needs of soldiers, but also who is responsible for action. And while it's unrealistic to expect fast action from either the Defense Department or Veterans Administration (which is a shame, since the unweildy bureaucracies of both have contributed to the very problems addressed in the report), we should demand fast action from Congress on the laws they need to pass, including one that would enable all Iraq and Afghanistan vets to get VA care for post-traumatic stress disorder.
One point in this carefully crafted report also suggests why this is must reading for everyone (find it at www.pccww.gov):
"Many of the statements - good and bad - that we have heard about care in the DoD and VA systems could apply to the nation's health-care delivery system as a whole . . . "
The suggestion that fixing the health-care system that treats service members and vets could provide a path toward larger health-care reform is intriguing. We hope this point is not lost on President Bush, whose approach to health-care reform to date has been less than visionary.
Finally, more than 30 years after far too many Vietnam veterans were forgotten and subjected to substandard mental and physical care, holes in walls and patches of mold at Walter Reed did what no one else could – put a priority on America's heroes. Now, it's time for Congress and the president to do the same. *
Comments (19)
Totally agree, I am 39 and 'til this day aftercare for our Veterans has been a disgrace.
However, one thing I don't agree with is why can't we expect fast action especially in a case like this?
President Bush didn't waste any time commuting our friend "Scooter" Libby.
Posted by: TheBoss on August 1, 2007 11:30
The next president, the next few president's and thier administrations, will make Veteran's issues a top priority...by not just giving those brave men and women lip service, but by giving them real support for the selfless service and support they have given us. For those heroes that ask what "they can do for their country", they need our leadership to ask what can be done for them...and do it, for a change!
Posted by: JDNLA on August 1, 2007 19:05
C'mon gang. Miss Flavia puts out a call to help veterans and what do we do? We use it as a springboard to bash the president.
Your presidential candidate lost. Get over it. 51% of the voters preferred President Bush to Senator Kerry. Sour grapes are now 6-1/2 years old and really beginning to reek.
Do you care about the soldiers? Then stop wasting time expressing disappointment over the 2004 presidential election results and call your state representatives.
Posted by: Todd Levari on August 2, 2007 11:24
todd, the prez is repsonsible, and his party. Criticism of him is important. it applies political pressure from the citzens so that we dont make the same mistake again in the next election. his party are the main culprits and we have to keep reminding the voters who read this post but may not chime in who is responsible for this mess, the repubs and thier leader..cheney!
Posted by: on August 3, 2007 10:44
That is all your opinion. And you are entitled to it.
If Bush and Kerry ran again in 2008 head to head, I suspect the results would be the same. I made no mistake in the last election. My candidate hated abortion while his opponent embraced it.
You refer to "this mess". To what mess do you refer?
Forget that question. Here is I think a better question. You are the president and it is September 12, 2001. Remember you are a person who is deeply passionate about your country (or you would have never assumed the unimaginable responsibilities that go along with being the US President). A huge percentage of your people are horrified and are looking to you to remove their anxiety.
OK. The ball is in your court. What would you do?
GO!
Posted by: Todd Levari on August 3, 2007 12:30
..not read my pet goat! Folks...I think we have a 25%'er in our midst!
Posted by: on August 3, 2007 15:00
Well; you might rabbit, you might.
Posted by: Todd Levari on August 3, 2007 15:31
Todd...we must agree to disagree. I think it is a mess and I will vote and talk to my friends and we will talk about our own individual situations and see how Cheney's admin hadd affected our lives and continue our conversations. And we will connect the dots between Cheney and other elected officials to the point where we wil make good arguments based on our lives as proof. And I am sure you will do the same. And I respect that. But I disagree with you on the state of our union.
Posted by: on August 3, 2007 16:15
OK.
How has this administration affected your life? Maybe it has affected mine too and I am not recognizing that.
Posted by: Todd Levari on August 3, 2007 17:12
We are all responsible for the government we have and for the impact it has on our lives. But we are also personally responsible for what happens next. You respond to a major disaster or a deteriorating world state of affairs "with the government you have", to boldly appropriate a phrase from a former bureaucrat. But does that mean that we as Americans should not expect more from the men and women we choose to represent and lead us?
When Katrina hit some stayed. Some evacuated due to military orders. I came back early with some members of my unit to help protect property and do what I could in the community. My now ex-wife also stayed as a first responder. When the water was rising and the chaos gave way, no one was interested in anything but surviving and enduring.
And we did.
But a peculiar thing happens on the way from the rooftop. When the waters dissipated, we could see the breaks in the walls meant to protect us. We had not noticed them before the storm hit. We all share that responsiblity for the failures of that wall. That wall would have failed no matter who was at our helm in city hall, the state house, or the capital. WE did not notice the faults in what was meant to protect us.
But we as smart human beings know the difference between finger pointing and learning from our mistakes. When I lose faith in an administration, it is not because of the failings of one man or a cabinet of men and women. I lose faith because deep in my heart I know that we are allowing them to live up to the our standards - by choice.
It was choice that politicizes a department meant to uphold the laws of our land. It is choice that sends aid to one state over the vastly greater needs of another. It is choice that decides which generals to listen to and which one to silence.
And it is our choice whether we decide to allow that to continue or not.
You see, I beleive in the primacy of US. I believe that we have the solution to our problems. I beleive that we, each and every one of us, are charged to find the faults in our walls that are meant to protect us before it is too late...before another bridge collapses, before a levee breaks, before a war is fought, before an election is corrupted.
All administrations affect everyone of our lives. But before their choices are made, we are charged to make our own, when we vote.
My life was affected and I will thrive. It is my choice. And it is my choice to decide if we can do better...and I choose "YES!"
Posted by: on August 6, 2007 18:18
An excellent post. And an excellent answer to an excellent question.
You do not accept failure as inevitable. Thank you.
Posted by: Todd Levari on August 6, 2007 19:36
On Sept 12, 2001, I would set in motion the might of the United States to eliminate the planners and all envolved in this terrorist attack, even if it meant going into Pakistan to hunt them down. There would be nothing else to take my eye off the ball.
Posted by: Mark Chalupa on September 18, 2007 21:12
Sounds good to me. But by the time you spent years finding your needles in the haystack and made martyrs out of them, if in-fact you were successfull, you may have very well been responsible for allowing several more attacks. At best, you would have eliminated a handful and allowed the infrastructure of the masses to stay in-tact.
More than likely, what you are proposing would have been occupation of westerners on muslim soil and may have just as well migrated into all-out war.
There were no easy answers.
Posted by: Todd Levari on September 19, 2007 23:07
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