Examining veterans' health care

Most will remember the stories from two years ago as it was revealed that veterans were not receiving appointments for medical treatment and that some were dying waiting for those appointments. In an August 22 article by J. David Cox, on the Defense One website, Cox discusses how the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has addressed problems and compares VA health care with the private sector.

Veterans organizations have campaigned for improvements to the VA system rather than replacing the VA with private health care as some have called for. The article says, "Veterans' care should not become a profit-making enterprise that serves no one better than its financial backers."

One point made in the article is that the VA has experience treating war-specific injuries, which private medical facilities do not. Suicides among active military and veterans has been a news item for quite a while now. In fact, since 2000, suicides among veterans who did not use the VA health care system increased by 40 percent while the rate of suicides among veterans who use the VA system fell by 20 percent. The Rand Corporation reported that 87 percent of non-VA civilian mental health professionals were not suited to treat veterans. The American Psychological Association reports the VA health care is 30 percent better in treating mental health issues than the private sector.

VA personnel have seen more patients with traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, and spinal cord injury, reactions to Agent Orange, PTSD symptoms or traumatic brain injuries than most non-VA medical personnel.

In my own case I was sent to John Cochran VA Medical Center to see vascular surgeons and neurologists and have multiple tests when local VA doctors noted my symptoms could be tied to Agent Orange exposure in Vietnam. Faster diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease meant faster ongoing treatment.

There have been improvements in care received through the VA. The VA system is not perfect, but veterans who have complaints about treatment received from the VA do have recourse. Every VA facility has at least one patient ombudsman to resolve problems.

Jack Dragoni attended Boston College and served in the U.S. Army in Berlin and Vietnam. He lives in Chaffee, Missouri.