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Effectiveness of the VA in Treating Veterans

Thesis: The United States government should examine the effectiveness of the Veterans

Association because there are numerous obstacles in order to be eligible for the VA benefits, the

wait times for medical care are excessive when using VA medical facilities, and the VA does not

treat some diseases and illnesses as well as they do others.

I. The United States government should examine the effectiveness of the Veterans

Association because the wait times for medical care are excessive when using VA

medical facilities

A. There are certain eligibility tiers that prevent some people from getting care in a timely

manner

1. Three of the eight tiers include an income eligibility requirement. Top priority

goes to veterans with 50% or more disability or those who are unemployable as a

result of their disability. The second tier includes those with 30% to 40%

disability. Former prisoners of war and medal winners are grouped in the third

tier.

2. Veterans in lower priority tiers may not be able to access care or may face copays

for many types of care services​.

B. A veteran wrote about his experience with the VA and trying to receive care and he said

it was a grueling process that wasn’t even worth it.

1. It took 5 months for the doctor to even see him

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2. After the first visit he had to wait another 7 to be seen again

II. Counter Argument

A. The Veterans Association is just simply understaffed would probably be the strongest

counter argument.

1. The reason for everything being the way it is is simply because they don’t have

enough staff

2. If you had more staff than everything would be 100% fine

B. The staffing issue has everything to do with quality of healthcare provided

1. Many think that solving this problem will solve everything

2. More staff means more time with patients to be able to detect mental illnesses

better

C. Hire more staff

1. The amount of staff has a lot to do with the wait time issue so the obvious solution is to

employ more people

2. This would also help with being able to have better, more individual care

III. The United States government should examine the effectiveness of the Veterans

Association because there are numerous obstacles in order to be eligible for the VA

benefits
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A. You must have left the military a certain way

1.​A veteran must have been honorably discharged

2. A veteran must have been released

B. A veteran must have served in specific areas and for a certain amount of time

1. A veteran must have served in the active military, naval, or air service or must

have served as a reservist or National Guard member called to active duty and

completed his or her full call-up period.

2. ​Veterans must also have served at least 24 continuous months, or the full

period for which they were called to active duty, to be eligible.

IV. The United States government should examine the effectiveness of the Veterans

Association because the VA does not treat some diseases and illnesses as well as they do

other

A. The same care isn’t provided in every area,

1. Some VA facilities do not care for some illnesses period, or as well as others do

2. A veteran can get care from any VA facility but depending on what tier you are

determines whether they will make accommodations or pay for your travels

B. The VA takes some illnesses more serious than others which leads to many people not

being able to get quality care

1. Often times people will external injuries are viewed as more significant than

mental
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2. This leads to mental illnesses often getting over looked

Abby Chrapliwy

AP English IV

Mr.Cullen

29 April 2019

Is the Veterans Association Effective in Treating Combat Veterans?

The United States Department of Veterans Affairs is a federal Cabinet level agency that

provides healthcare services to eligible military veterans at VA medical centers and outpatient

clinics throughout the country. Benefits for veterans have been around since the American

Revolutionary War but the Veterans Administration was not created until 1930. It became the

cabinet level Department of Veterans Affairs in 1989. It was created to consolidate and

coordinate Government activities affecting all veterans. Over the past ten years the number of

combat soldiers coming back with mental disabilities has skyrocketed due to the conflict in the

Middle East. Many of these men are either getting no treatment, or treatment that is not adequate

enough to truly help them. ​Nearly fifty percent of combat veterans from Iraq report that they

have suffered from PTSD and close to forty percent of these same veterans report “problem

alcohol use”. “According to estimates from 2010, approximately twenty-two veterans died as a

result of suicide each day in that calendar year. Studies indicate that fifty six percent to eighty

percent of service members experiencing psychological distress after deployment report that they

did not receive psychological help” (​Bose). While many believe that the VA does not do an

adequate job, some believe that they are doing the best that they can based on the drastic increase
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over the past ten years. Even if, with the resources they have, they still should provide the best

care they can for these soldiers who do so much for our country. The United States government

should examine the effectiveness of the Veterans Association because there are numerous

obstacles in order to be eligible for the VA benefits, the wait times for medical care are excessive

when using VA medical facilities, and the VA does not treat and recognize some diseases and

illnesses as well as they do others.

The United States government should examine the effectiveness of the Veterans

Association because the wait times for medical care are excessive when using VA medical

facilities. Within the Veterans Administration there are different tiers that each person will fall

into. Certain tiers get seen to be treated faster and can even get better care than others. ​Three of

the eight tiers include an income eligibility requirement. Top priority goes to veterans with fifty

percent or more service connected disability or those who are unemployable as a result of their

disability. The second tier includes those with thirty to forty percent disability. Former prisoners

of war and medal of honor awardees are grouped in the third tier (“​Removing Barriers to Mental

Health Services for Veterans”).​ ​Certainly some disabilities are more serious than others and

should have more priority but the veterans in the tiers that keep getting pushed back never get

treated because of this and that is unacceptable. These soldiers still deserve top notch care. A few

things have come out and been talked about dealing with the Veterans Administration lying and

falsifying records on how fast they were seeing veterans in 2014 (Lawrence). The people who

did this were penalized but it really makes you wonder if they are lying about any other statistics.

Instead of trying to lie and cover up how much the Veterans Administration is declining, they
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just need to come up with solutions and fix the issues because these men and women deserve the

best healthcare we have to offer.

Many say that the Veterans Administration is just simply understaffed and doing the best

they can based on the resources provided by the federal government. If this is the case the

government needs to take responsibility and provide the resources and funding necessary to

administer additional personnel and implement newer and more technologically advanced

equipment to treat these heroes more aggressively. ​Survival is the priority of those serving in a

theatre of war, once they return from combat deployments the Veterans Administration’s

responsibility is to restore veterans to the greatest level of health, independence, and quality of

life that is medically possible (Kudler​). The staffing issue is not the only problem found within

the VA. Even if you resolved that issue there would still be others preventing some veterans

from getting healthcare. For example there are still numerous veterans that do not have Veterans

Administration medical facilities located within their region. Therefore it is very difficult for

these veterans to receive adequate healthcare. It is estimated that the Veterans Administration is

understaffed approximately forty nine thousand workers. This is a huge concern and yes, it could

solve a lot of problems, so one solution would be to increase healthcare personnel within the

Veterans Administration. Hiring more staff would help with the wait times. If there were the

amount of staff required to properly treat these individuals it would reduce the number of people

struggling to receive care and treatment. Also the care for each veteran would be a lot more

individualized and they could have more one on one time with doctors which would help a lot

with the diagnosis and seeing the progression of the patient and how well they are truly doing.
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Although hiring more personnel would not solve all the issues it would drastically improve the

healthcare veterans receive from the Veterans Administration.

The United States government needs to examine the effectiveness of the Veterans

Administration because there are numerous obstacles in order to be eligible for the benefits that

veterans receive. To be eligible for certain benefits from the Veterans Administration a soldier

must have left the military a certain way. A veteran must have been released with an honorable

discharge, and must have served a minimum amount of time stated on their contract. A veteran

must also have served in specific areas and for a certain amount of time. In order to receive

specific combat related benefits ​a veteran must have served in the active military, naval, or air

service or must have served as a reservist or National Guard member called to active duty and

completed his or her full call-up period. They​ ​must also have served at least twenty four

continuous months, or the full period for which they were called to active duty ​(“Removing

Barriers to Mental Health Services for Veterans”). This is quite unfair to the veterans that do not

qualify for this. Often times there are extenuating circumstances and just because they did not

leave the military the “correct” way does not mean that they do not deserve good care and

treatment because the mental illness was inflicted by what they saw, the things they were

required to do, and the circumstances that they had to endure in the military. Denying these

combat veterans healthcare is unfair and unjust.

The United States government should examine the effectiveness of the Veterans

Administration because the Veterans Administration does not treat or even recognize some

diseases and illnesses as well as they do others. In different Veterans Administration facilities,

different care is given. Some facilities have more advanced equipment therefore they can provide
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vastly enhanced quality healthcare for a numerous amount of more diseases (Kudler). This

means that a veteran living in one region could get better healthcare simply because of where

they live. The Veterans Administration will make accommodations and pay for travels but only

for veterans in certain tiers. This is completely unfair to the veterans who do not have access to

the same quality care as others. Another big issue is the fact that the Veterans Administration is

required to pay compensation to individuals who are diagnosed with service connected

disabilities, however healthcare providers who diagnose these disabilities also work for the

Veterans Administration. With that said, it is unfair that disabled veterans can only receive

compensation based on the Veterans Administrations diagnosis. For example an individual with

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder must submit a claim with the Veterans Administration in order to

receive any benefits. Once the claim is submitted the VA assigns a healthcare personnel to

diagnose the legitimacy of the veterans claim. With this in mind, it would not be beneficial to the

Veterans Administration for the doctor giving the diagnosis to substantiate the veterans claim. If

the doctor provided by the Veterans Administration does not prove the claim to be true or service

connected the veteran is not eligible to receive compensation or medical treatment (“Removing

Barriers to Mental Health Services for Veterans”). This leads to many veterans not being treated

for their illnesses caused by their service in the military.

Not only does the Veterans Administration benefit from not diagnosing certain illnesses

or diseases, they also benefit from not even recognizing some combat related illnesses and

diseases. There are many examples of this. Two of them being Agent Orange and the burn pits in

Iraq. Agent Orange was a powerful herbicide used by the U.S. Government during the Vietnam

War to eliminate forests and crops for the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops. The United
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States sprayed more than twenty thousand gallons of various herbicides over Vietnam. Agent

Orange was the most commonly used herbicide. It was later proven to cause many serious

illnesses such as cancer, birth defects, rashes, and severe neurological and psychological

problems among the United States veterans that were returning home having been exposed to all

the harmful toxins that are in Agent Orange (Moore). For a long time the United States

Government did not acknowledge the fact that it was the toxins in Agent Orange that was

causing these health problems so many of the veterans affected did not receive care or

compensation (Pestik). Another example are the burn pits in Iraq. A burn pit refers to an area on

a forward operating base utilized for open air combustion of waste. During Operation Iraqi

Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom the burn pit method was used as a measure to get rid

of all types of waste to include human waste, products containing depleted uranium, and other

hazardous materials. The burning of this waste generated numerous pollutants to include carbon

monoxide and dioxide which is the same chemical compound found in Agent Orange. Although

the Veterans Administration has established a Burn Pit Registry, they have failed to acknowledge

any service connected illnesses or diseases based on the continuous intake of the harmful

chemicals in the air by the veterans that were assigned to that area of operation. They were there

months if not years at a time, inhaling the smoke containing all these harmful toxins daily. These

pits burned twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. The veterans had breathed this in

everyday of their deployment (Kime). Both of these are instances where the United States

Government has benefitted from not recognizing some health issues as being combat related

issues. In my opinion the United States Government and the Veterans Administration should

continue to conduct research pertaining to the affects of Agent Orange, burn pits, and all other
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combat related diseases and illnesses in order to provide better healthcare to the veterans that

were exposed to those environments.

Often times veterans that come back from combat with physical injuries are viewed as

more serious then someone who has a mental illness because it is something that can physically

be seen. This leads to those with physical injuries getting seen and treated first. Due to the

Veterans Administration facilities understaffing issue a lot of times veterans with mental

illnesses are often times overlooked and fall through the cracks of the healthcare system when in

reality a lot of times these mental illness are far worse and more harmful than an external injury.

“Mental illness often times causes substance abuse, outbursts of anger, depression, and suicide,”

(Hein). Combat veterans must cut off all emotions just to survive when deployed and when they

come back home they are thrown into a world that has no clue what they have gone through and

where having emotions and reactions are a necessity, especially with loved ones. “In combat,

you have to shut down those emotions that do not directly serve survival,” (Bose).

Another problem that is commonly experienced when troops return home from an

extended deployment in a place like Iraq is that they experience outbursts of anger.

Veterans yell at each other, and they're kind of a violent group, so it's not so abnormal for

them, especially in a hostile environment. But when they come home and they're with

their families, and they're used to yelling and screaming and hollering and things of that

nature, if they start doing it at home, it can make some major ripples in a family unit. If

you have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, they don't go away. And you are always

hyperalert, hypervigilant, and your nervous system is just on pins and needles. In the

environment that you were in if you weren't watching and checking everything all the
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time, you could end up dead. You’re to the point where you've always got your antenna

out and you're always scanning and monitoring for the enemy, and so little things can

really irritate you because you're just at a peak emotional state. (Dooley)

A veteran with a mental illness should be viewed just as serious and viewed the same as physical

injuries. Some mental illness are worse and more dangerous to a person and the people around

them than an external injury. When mental illnesses are put to the side and left untreated it can

lead to the illness getting worse and it can also result in more complications which could be

dangerous not only to the veteran but to everyone around them. ​I have first hand experience with

a family member dealing with what was talked about in my block quote above. My dad served

twenty two years in the United States Army with multiple combat deployments to both Iraq and

Afghanistan. He retired in 2012 when I was eleven years old. Although he was formally trained

as a Field Artillerymen he served multiple deployments as a Gun Truck Platoon sergeant. This

required him to spend everyday outside of the forward operating bases, engaging with the enemy

on a daily basis which lead to him being diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after

returning home. At first when he was home, even as a young girl, I could tell that he was not the

same. Although there was never any physical violence he would scream and yell all the time and

you never knew what would set him off. It was like walking around on pins and needles and it

can really affect a family’s whole structure. He was one of the fortunate ones who got diagnosed

and received treatment and compensation from the Veterans Administration and was able to

overcome this illness. I can not imagine a veteran having this mental illness and being denied

care simply because the Veterans Administration does not have the funds or the staff to help
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veterans misdiagnosed. Mental illness is a very serious issue that needs to be addressed always

and should be viewed as just as serious as a physical injury by the Veterans Administration.

Although the Veterans Administration does provide healthcare to many veterans, there

are several areas of improvement that need to be addressed in order to provide better care to

these veterans and their family members. No veteran’s illness or injury should go untreated due

to the lack of available healthcare personnel, not enough research being done to make sure all

combat related illnesses are viewed as just that, and that everyone has access to the best care

available regardless of their circumstances. Mental illnesses affect more than just the veterans, it

affects family, friends, and loved ones and it affects more veterans than anyone likes to

acknowledge. These people are heros to our country and they have earned the right to the best

healthcare this country can provide.

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Works Cited

Bose, MD Dr. Sudip. “Taking Care of Our Country's Veterans: One of Our Top National

Priorities.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 21 Sept. 2017,

www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/taking-care-of-our-countrys-veterans-one-of-our-top_

Dooley, Thomas. “​When They Come Home.​” ​PBS,​ Public Broadcasting Service,

www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/heart/themes/cominghome.html.

Hein, Chris. “Office of Research & Development.” ​Mental Health,​ 2015,

www.research.va.gov/topics/mental_health.cfm.

Kime, Patricia. “Burn Pit Diseases and Conditions.” ​VetsHQ​, 2011,

www.vetshq.com/burn-pit-diseases-conditions/.

Kudler, Harold. “Improving VA Mental Health Care for Veterans Starts with Listening.”

VAntage Point,​ 6 Sept. 2017,

www.blogs.va.gov/VAntage/40874/improving-va-mental-health-care-for-veterans/.

Lawrence, Quil. “​Your Stories About Veterans Affairs​.” NPR, NPR, 30 Apr. 2017,

www.npr.org/2017/04/30/526250782/the-call-in-your-stories-about-veterans-affairs.

Moore, Ryan. “Agent Orange.” ​History.com,​ A&E Television Networks, 3 Jan. 2011,

www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/agent-orange.
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Pestik, Edward. “U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.” ​Go to VA.gov​, VA Public Affairs Office,

3 Oct. 2005, www.va.gov​/.

“Removing Barriers to Mental Health Services for Veterans.” ​AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH

ASSOCIATION,​ American Public Health Association, 18 Nov. 2014,

www.apha.org/policies-and-advocacy/public-health-policy-statements/policy-database/20

15/01/28/14/51/removing-barriers-to-mental-health-services-for-veterans.
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