White House Seeks to Ease Veterans’ Access to Care

By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVISNOV. 11, 2015

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Wednesday will call on Congress to enact measures to help military veterans gain easier access to health care, disability and educational benefits, part of a push to spotlight its efforts to improve the way the government treats veterans after a scandal at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

President Obama will urge Congress to improve a program that allows veterans to receive private medical care, speed the appeal process for disability claims and pass legislation aiming to improve the quality of schools that serve veterans. Timed to coincide with Veterans Day, Mr. Obama’s proposals also come as the administration is promoting the first fruits of its efforts to reduce homelessness among veterans, with Gov. Terry McAuliffe of Virginia set to announce that his state has become the first to end veteran homelessness.

Continue reading the main story

RELATED COVERAGE

• 
  

  Lawmakers Agree to Help Veterans Agency Fill a Budget Gap JUNE 25, 2015

• 
  

  Housing for Homeless Veterans Is Planned for Ex-Walter Reed SiteAUG. 10, 2015

• 
  

  Veterans Affairs Official Overseeing Backlog of Claims Resigns OCT. 16, 2015

• 
  

  A Veterans of Foreign Wars Post in Denver Trades Beer for a Sun SaluteOCT. 17, 2015

• V.A. Hospital Leader in Wisconsin Fired Over High Painkiller DosesOCT. 31, 2015

The cities of Las Vegas; Syracuse; and Schenectady, N.Y., will also announce that they have ended veteran homelessness, the White House said.

The administration laid out a plan in 2010 to end chronic homelessness among veterans by the end of this year, saying that goal would be reached when there were no veterans sleeping on streets and no more than 12,500 veterans in shelters or transitional housing. In August, Connecticut became the first state to be designated by the administration as having achieved the milestone.

The Obama administration is also set to unveil a new tool to allow veterans to compare college and university options, modeled after a college scorecard website it started in September to provide information to prospective students and their parents about annual costs, graduation rates and salaries after graduation.

It will also announce that all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico will provide “recently transitioning veterans” and their dependents with in-state tuition at public colleges and universities, in line with a provision in the $16 billion overhaul of the Department of Veterans Affairs passed by Congress last year after the scandal.

The moves reflect the degree to which Mr. Obama is still fine-tuning that law, including provisions that allow veterans to use private doctors at the government’s expense if they cannot get an appointment with a Department of Veterans Affairs physician within 30 days. The White House said that 7 percent more veterans have been able to use that option over the past year, but that the program needs improvements. The agency sent Congress a plan to do so earlier this month.

Mr. Obama will also call for speeding what the White House called a broken appeals process for disability claims. Last month, the Department of Veterans Affairs administrator responsible for reducing the huge backlog of veterans benefits resigned after questions were raised about the agency’s assertions that it had drastically reduced the number of pending claims.

The steps come as the administration works to recover from the scandal of backlogs and wait times that last year caused the resignation of Secretary Eric K. Shinseki and the early retirement of the agency’s under secretary for health, Dr. Robert A. Petzel.

President Obama Issues Statement on Veterans' Health and Benefits:

The White House, Washington D.C. –

For their service and sacrifice, warm words of thanks from a grateful nation are more than warranted, but they aren't nearly enough. We also owe our veterans the care they were promised and the benefits that they have earned. We have a sacred trust with those who wear the uniform of the United States of America. It's a commitment that begins at enlistment, and it must never end. But we know that for too long, we've fallen short of meeting that commitment. Too many wounded warriors go without the care that they need. Too many veterans don't receive the support that they've earned. Too many who once wore our nation's uniform now sleep in our nation's streets.                                                                                                                                        PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, MARCH 19, 2009

Dear Mr. President,

Why does the Department of Veterans Affairs obstruct Agent Orange exposure claims by inventing a VA-unique definition of exposure, by which no veteran of any war, of any service, in any circumstance could ever qualify?  Clearly, the redefinition by Veterans Health Administration was to prevent claims from succeeding.

Why does VA redefine exposure in an unscientific manner, challenged by other federal agencies and health experts, when that definition isn't used even elsewhere in the VA itself? Why permit VA to use a unscientific definition of such a fundamental term, when no juried publication would ever touch such work? Why did VA's own National Center for Ethics in Healthcare avoid dealing with the criminal and ethical questions such redefinition raises?

Why does the Veterans Health Administration game patient wait times by keeping veterans out of their hospitals? Are you and Secretary Shinseki aware that VA games their own system by blocking qualified veterans' disability claims for years, and constructing a three to five year additional delay through the VA Board of Veterans Appeals? What happened to your promises of 2009, and the VA's obligation to be "veteran-friendly" and non-adversarial? Would you ask America to wait five years for us to put on our uniforms to report for duty? 

Clearly, your Administration has waited five years to consider our situation, and the wait continues. Perhaps a solution will arrive, but it will likely interest our survivors more than us. Do you expect us to draw comfort from the words of VA's Chief Consultant of Post Deployment Health who, when asked if claims could be considered before veterans died, answered, "We all die."

How can you permit the Veterans Benefits Administration to order Agent Orange exposure claims denied with the excuse that that Agent Orange is harmless? Has your Office of General Counsel read the Yale Law C-123 finding? Has VA any intention of obeying the law without a court order to do so?

Why does VA refer complex medical and scientific issues to the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine and pay only for arguments and testimony against the veterans' claims, but spend or offer nothing in support of the veterans' perspective? The VA obviously develops a scheme to prevent disability claims and is dedicated to funding that view in IOM meetings, and leaves it to the veterans' resources to argue their case. VA outspending the veterans works for the VA, but not the veterans. This isn't science. And it dishonors all involved.

God bless the United States. 

Respectfully,

FOR THE C-123 VETERANS ASSOCIATION:

Wes Carter, Chair
Fort Collins, Colorado

President Obama Orders Investigation of VA "Secret Lists" & Veterans' Deaths

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — President Barack Obama says the U.S. will get to the bottom of whether veterans were denied help they needed at a VA hospital in Arizona.

Obama says he immediately ordered Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki to investigate following allegations that up to 40 Arizona veterans died while awaiting medical appointments at the Phoenix VA Health Care Center.

Obama says he takes the allegations, quote, "very seriously." He says an inspector general is also investigating.

Obama says he wants to ensure not a single U.S. veteran lacks the help they need. He says he's increased the VA's budget more than any other agency in his government.

Obama spoke at a news conference in Manila while traveling in the Philippines.

White House unveils expanded support for military, vets' caregivers

(note: while respectful of generous support for post 9/11 veterans and their families, veterans of other conflicts note the very careful exclusion of them from this vital program) 

By Patricia Kime, Air Force Times Staff writer

The White House continued its focus on veterans and military families by announcing new programs Friday to expand support and services available to those who care for injured or ill troops. 

In a Joining Forces event at the White House that brought together military family members, First Lady Michelle Obama, former First Lady Rosalyn Carter, former Sen. Elizabeth Dole and Jill Biden, wife of vice president Joe Biden, Obama announced several programs to support caregivers, from training, financial and legal guidance to employment opportunities. 

The expanded opportunities follow the release last week of a Rand Corp. study that found many of the one million caregivers of the nation’s post-9/11 veterans face challenges ranging from isolation and financial strain to poor health and inadequate training.

The study said these caregivers, who help veterans and medically retired troops with dressing in the morning, making doctors appointments, managing households, serving as sole providers and much more, save taxpayers more than $3 billion a year by offsetting the cost of home health care and medical aides.

“The burden these men and women bear for our country is real and they shouldn’t have to shoulder it on their own ... we are here to show that we have their backs,” Obama said.

President Announces Major Veterans Initiatives

The White House

On Saturday, August 10, President Obama addressed the Disabled American Veterans and discussed his Administration’s work to secure our nation, wind down the war in Afghanistan, better serve our troops and military families, and honor our veterans. 

In his remarks, President Obama outlined the five priorities his Administration is focused on to ensure we are fulfilling our promises to all those who have served – ensuring the resources our veterans deserve; delivering the health care veterans have been promised; ending the claims backlog; protecting the dignity and rights of wounded warriors; and making sure all veterans have every opportunity to pursue the American Dream.

The President announced a new national action plan to guide mental health research and commitments from 250 community colleges and universities to aid veterans in their efforts to complete their higher education so they can compete for the high-skilled jobs of the future.

Additionally the President noted that we are turning the tide on eliminating the Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) disability claims backlog, with a nearly 20% reduction over the last five months. The President also renewed his call on Congress to pass his Veterans Job Corps proposal to put our veterans to work protecting and rebuilding America, and to extend permanently the Returning Heroes and Wounded Warrior tax credits for businesses that hire veterans. On Friday, August 9, the President signed into law the Helping Heroes Fly Act, to ensure wounded warriors and disabled veterans can travel with dignity.

Linda Schwartz Goes to Washington: WATCH OUT NOW YOU BUREAUCRATS!

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, President Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key Administration posts:

Dr. Linda Spoonster Schwartz – Assistant Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Policy and Planning, Department of Veterans Affairs

President Obama said, “These dedicated individuals bring a wealth of experience and talent to their new roles and I am proud to have them serve in this Administration.  I look forward to working with them in the months and years to come.”

 Linda Spoonster Schwartz, Nominee for Assistant Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Policy and Planning, Department of Veterans Affairs

Linda Schwartz, a disabled veteran, is Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs, a position she has held since 2003.  She concurrently serves as an Associate Clinical Professor of Nursing at the Yale School of Nursing, where she has been on Faculty since 1999 and was appointed Associate Research Scientist and Scholar.  From 1980 to 1993, she taught at several University and College Schools of Nursing and held leadership roles in Nursing organizations in Connecticut. 

 From 1979 to 1980, she was a caseworker in the Office of the Field Director of the American Red Cross at Rhein-Main Air Base in Germany.  Dr. Schwartz served in the United States Air Force (USAF) Nurse Corps from 1968 to 1986, both on Active Duty and as a Reservist.  She retired as a Flight Nurse Instructor, with the rank of Major after sustaining injuries in a USAF Air Craft accident.  In 2001, she served on the Board of Directors of the American Nurses Association and was elected to the American Academy of Nursing.  From 1996 to 2000, she served as a Member and Chair of the VA Advisory Committee on Women Veterans.  She also previously served as President of the National Association of State Directors of Veterans Affairs.

She received a B.S. from the University of Maryland, an MSN from Yale University School of Nursing, and a Dr.P.H from the Yale University School of Medicine.