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thedrifter
10-07-08, 09:19 AM
Active Duty Taking Over VA Hospitals?

Robert F. Sawallesh
05 October 2008
http://www.pentagonmaverick.com/

When wounded, injured and patients with diseases started coming into the stateside military medical system from Iraq and Afghanistan the Pentagon no doubt realized that they were unprepared because of the closure and downsizing of Army, Navy and Air Force hospitals.

Casualty statistics from the wars are at http://siadapp.dmdc.osd.mil/personnel/CASUALTY/castop.htm. See first paragraph of the MOAA 2007 executive summary at http://www.senate.gov/~veterans/public/index.cfm?pageid=16&release_id=11397&sub_release_id=11407&view=all.

What was the Pentagon's panic solution due to lack of military hospitals? Answer: Send the active duty wounded to VA hospitals for treatment. VA hospitals were already under funded and under staffed plus out of date. For background information see http://www.health.mil/?MID=9493-59425-2056-6, http://www.tricare.mil/ and http://www1.va.gov/health/index.asp.

No doubt millions of dollars were pumped into VA hospitals for modernization in order to care for the active duty patients from the War on Terror. Did this modernization at VA hospitals wards and facilities happen overnight and did the two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq stop while the Pentagon brainstormed about where to send the waves of increasing casualties?

One VA hospital was built in 1932 [now 76 years old] and was just recently "rebuilt" based on a 2005 article. See http://www.tbnweekly.com/content_articles/012506_smb-05.txt.

What is the relationship between the Pentagon and the US Department of Veterans Affairs insofar as active duty wounded and injured going to VA hospitals? Look at the leadership in the VA and the Pentagon.

The Secretary of the VA (Lieutenant General James Peake, M.D., US Army, Retired) is at http://www1.va.gov/opa/bios/biography.asp?id=71 and the Under Secretary of the VA for Health (Brig. Gen. Michael J. Kussman, M.D., US Army, Retired) is at http://www1.va.gov/opa/bios/biography.asp?id=53. Assistant Secretary for Health Affairs in the Pentagon is Dr. S. Ward Casscells, MD at http://www.health.mil/bioDetail.aspx?ID=1

Because of the above leadership, the communications between the Pentagon senior leadership and the VA senior leadership is probably quite good regarding transferring active duty patients from military hospitals to VA hospitals. See http://www1.va.gov/opa/bios/index.asp and http://www.defenselink.mil/osd/topleaders.aspx.

The White House, US Congress and the Pentagon made a big mistake by implementing TRICARE which doomed traditional military hospitals. But at least TRICARE made a lot of medical contractors rich such as HUMANA. Go to http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=92913&p=irol-reports and search TRICARE in the annual reports.

Who suffered because of the lack of new and modern Army, Navy and Air Force hospitals? Answer: The Active Duty, National Guard and Reserves and their families.

Will McCain or Obama address the sad state of the Pentagon's military hospitals or just veterans' health care in their debates and speeches? Their web sites are at http://www.johnmccain.com/ and http://www.barackobama.com/index.php. See Commission on Presidential Debates at http://www.debates.org/ for schedule of the debates.

What is it like to be the wife of a seriously inured soldier? Follow an Army wife's daily blog on her husband who was injured in Afghanistan. Go to http://www.lebanon-express.com/articles/2008/02/20/news/local/local01noss.txt and http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/scottnoss.

Today widows and wives of WW II, Korean War, Vietnam War, Gulf War and no doubt the War on Terror are volunteering in VA and military hospitals.

In the same VA and military hospitals you have the wives and mothers serving as caregivers for their husbands, sons and daughters who have been seriously wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan and will be in the hospitals for months if not over a year. See http://www.militarywidows.org/ and https://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/content/view/857/895/.

Are the wives and mothers of the seriously wounded and injured active duty afraid that once their loved one becomes medically retired he or she will just become a "number in the VA?" What happens if there is a divorce or the caregiver dies?

Can the wounded and injured and their families trust the Pentagon, US Congress and the White House for continued care for the next 20, 40 and 60 years? That is, up to 2068 and beyond. Based on past history the answer is no. Just ask a military retiree about their promised life time military medical care.

We might have had enough military hospitals today if the military associations did not jump in bed with TRICARE and then start "sponsoring" TRICARE insurance. See http://www.moaainsurance.com/ and http://www.usba.com/TRICARE/intro-tricare.asp for example.

Are the presidents of the military associations fighting for new military hospitals or are they lobbying for more money for VA hospitals? No doubt the presidents of veterans associations would like to see as much money as possible go into VA hospitals. Perhaps the more Congressional dollars budgeted for military hospitals means less dollars for VA hospitals.

So how do you get presidents of veterans associations to support new military hospitals? I am sure that the presidents of veterans and military associations do not have to make deals with each other behind closed doors as they lobby the US Congress. What do you think?

Go to the following association web sites and see if there is a call for new Army, Navy and Air Force hospitals. See http://www.moaa.org/, http://www.ausa.org/Pages/default.aspx, http://www.navyleague.org/, http://www.trea.org/, http://www.legion.org/homepage.php, http://www.vfw.org/, http://www.afa.org/, http://www.amvets.org/, http://www.uscgcpoa.org/, http://www.mcleague.com/mdp/index.php, http://www.pva.org/site/PageServer and http://www.dav.org/.

With military liaison officers and NCOs in uniform and active duty patients in VA hospitals what do the veterans think about the situation? This statement from a veteran patient at a VA hospital was recently relayed to me: "The active duty are taking over the VA hospitals."

There is no doubt that the VA hospitals came to the rescue of the Pentagon...and the VA deserves a heroes medal. Why are McCain and Obama so silent on the need for new Pentagon Army, Navy and Air Force hospitals? See http://www.pentagonmaverick.com/Articles-macdill_hosp.html.

Ellie

patpace
10-07-08, 03:26 PM
Ellie please except my condolences on your late husband, I’ve read you’re postings before and this is one of your best, it is excellent. I just want to add that it was Clinton the latest President who downsized our military and then closed bases. We definitely need more military hospitals and a few new bases (preferably along our open boarders in the states before we create the needed nuclear power plants). Today IAVA came out with their report card on our politicians and like most of these service organizations’ they give good grades to politicians who promise veterans the most and only make it seem like they are helping us, but these grades obliviously show they do not look at what is really going on behind the scene; http://www.veteranreportcard.org/ (http://www.veteranreportcard.org/) . I placed this letter below that I sent to Veterans Advocate Jim Strickland (last year on the VA budget) whose column is @ VaWatchdog because I really wondered if anyone else could see what congress did to the VA funding and us veterans on their blog at IAVA today. Now the budget for this present fiscal year of 2009 has started and we are again running on CR – a continuing resolution (just operating expenses) http://www.thisnation.com/question/003.html (http://www.thisnation.com/question/003.html) which means we are again loosing proper funding and time. History has repeated itself again with this congress and VA spending yet most veterans thinks these members of congress are good to us. Ellie can you see no matter how much active duty military use the VA we still can not get proper funding?




Jim;

I was today asked to explain how Congress voting themselves a pay raise last week, when they knew the VA was in such dire need was not ethical. I’ve been trying to explain the last paragraph here for awhile now and was hoping you could tell me what I’m not saying right or simple enough? I will get the exact figures though, before I send it to the newspaper.

The cost of living increase for disabled veterans (COLA) for 2008 was only 2.2% (depending on disability rating & no. of dependants) the highest increase could adv. $79 dollars a month, while congress made heir’s 2.5% which is $4,100 a year, about $433 dollars a month. They will now receive salaries of $169,300 for 2008 and will continue to collect this same salary for the rest of their life even in retirement and will continue to receive the best medical care and medications available. Congress knows all veterans are given the cheapest generic drugs available, even when a more expensive medication is proven to be more effective and beneficial. Veterans are paying eight dollar co-pay at the VA while Wal-Mart is charging four dollars for the same amount of these generic medications. Congress has no ethic’s when their moral principals allows them to vote for themselves’ first!

And last month they did this: Our democrat congress took the needed additional $3.7 billion in funding away from the VA’s 2008 proposed budget, and replaced it with their own personal PORK. It now sits alone and requires a separate signature from President Bush as $3.7 billion in “emergency funding” for Veterans Affairs. It seems congress even forgot to declare the “emergency” or request emergency funding.

Now for the worst part, which proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that this congress has no ethics? The fiscal year for 2008 runs from September 31st 2007 to September 30th 2008. September 31st 2008 starts the new fiscal year for 2009.

The VA budget should have been passed for the start of this fiscal year which started September 31s 2007. We are now a few days away from the end of first quarter of this fiscal year—4 months on January 31st, (sept 31st 2007 to jan 31st 2008) a quarter of the year with no funding. When the budget is passed we will have lost the funding which should have been spent during these four month’s. The VA has lost the funds for the first quarter of the year, which they (congress) knew was desperately needed to help us Veterans. The VA budget which was only 1.15% of the total federal budget spent in the fiscal year of 2007 (sept. 31st 2006 to sept. 30th 2007) was appox. 80.6 billion. 80.6 billion is 1.15 percent of the total 2.77 trillion dollars budget spent in fiscal year 2007. I am trying to point out that almost one quarter of the 87 billion budget for 2008 is already lost these last four months, so this extra 3.7 billion that congress originally gave us as additional funding and then took it away (for themselves) and made it emergency funding is STILL LEAVING THE VA VERY SHORT OF FUNDING. And congress knew just what they where doing!


For Jim’s totally bipartisan reply it here, and it is his very last reply in this (his) column;

http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfJAN08/nf011808-3.htm (http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfJAN08/nf011808-3.htm)

patpace
10-07-08, 05:38 PM
Help please one part I don’t understand is this CR is following a budget of $70.8 billion from 2008 spending; while our spending was cut from the beginning with the budget being passed almost four month’s late. We then had (supposedly) $87 billion in funding, but the CR lists last year’s spending (which ended last month – the fiscal year 2008) as $70.8 billion. So where is the almost 17 billion difference? $87 billion - $70.8 billion leaves WHAT unaccounted for???