Bush: Panel will study DoD, VA health care - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Bush: Panel will study DoD, VA health care

In his weekly radio address Saturday, President Bush announced an independent commission will be formed to investigate the entire process for treating wounded service members, from the time they are wounded all the way through their transition to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Read complete coverage of the Walter Reed controversy.

Bush also touted the VA budget plan he has submitted for fiscal 2008, which totals more than $86 billion.

“Some of our troops at Walter Reed have experienced bureaucratic delays and living conditions that are less than they deserve,” Bush said, referring to recent reports in the Military Times and other media about wounded troops who have faced problems with living conditions and medical evaluations as outpatients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.

“This is unacceptable to me; it is unacceptable to our country; and it’s not going to continue,” Bush said.

The commission, he said, would look at how troops are treated from the time they are wounded all the way through to their treatment by VA.

But some veterans’ advocates say yet another study of the problems could push solutions further into the future, and that even with the planned increase in its budget, VA still won’t have enough resources to take care of veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I’m reading the president’s speech and I’m frustrated,” said Ron Smith, deputy general counsel for Disabled American Veterans. “They’re going to speed up the process so [soldiers] will get a bad decision sooner. There is a multitude of mistakes that are being made by the physical evaluation boards at Walter Reed.”

Smith said he feared concentrating on reducing delays to make sure soldiers make it through the process faster would not ensure that they receive proper ratings for their disabilities.

Smith said he wrote a letter two weeks ago to Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley, the Army surgeon general, to outline his concerns, but he hasn’t heard back.

“I hate to say it, but we’re really good at having commissions give reports,” he said. “The Army has not yet acknowledged that they have a problem with the Physical Disability Agency and the physical evaluation boards.”

Mike Hayden, deputy director of government relations for the Military Officers Association of America, said a commission that makes sure the problems seen at Walter Reed aren’t showing up at other military hospitals could be a bonus.

“To me, it’s a great thing to have a tip-to-tail review,” he said. “There are other complaints.”

For example, such a review could determine if the “seamless transition” process that moves injured service members from the military health care system to VA is working, and could also review problems with delays in getting care through VA.

But Gerald Manar, deputy director of national veterans’ services for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, feared the commission could cause more delays.

“Commissions can be wonderful things,” he said. “They can really delve into problems. They can also be a mechanism by those in political life to shove problems off into the future by diverting attention until the results come out.”

The problems that have surged to the fore in the wake of the Walter Reed scandal have been reported — and fixes have been suggested — before.

One year ago, for example, the Government Accountability Office asked the Defense Department to:

* Monitor compliance of all services with DoD regulations regarding medical disability evaluations.

* Review disability cases to ensure consistent decisions.

* Oversee training for staff in the disability system.

GAO reviewed the disability evaluation systems for all services from 2001 to 2005.

“GAO did provide information,” Hayden said. “But a review could allow the president to see where fixes have been put in place.”

Last fall, Congress approved some provisions that called for better training and better documentation of disability decisions as part of the 2007 Defense Authorization Act.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., responded to Bush’s radio address with a speech of his own asking for immediate attention to the problems at Walter Reed, and asked that Bush and Congress hold the Army chain of command responsible for the problems.

“It is our responsibility to take care of our service members not only when they are serving our country, but for their entire lives,” Lieberman said.

In his speech, Bush noted that his proposed VA budget for fiscal 2008 would, if approved, “amount to a 77 percent increase [in VA funding] since I took office — the highest level of support for veterans in American history.”

But it’s still not enough to deal with the current waves of injured and wounded service members returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with all the other older veterans in the system, veterans’ service organizations say.

“The budget has increased, but certainly not enough to meet the need,” Smith said. “Soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan get priority, but that certainly doesn’t change how many people are in line.”

VA has a backlog of 400,000 disability benefits cases.

“We feel very strongly that there should be mandatory funding for VA medical care,” Smith.

Manar agreed. “It’s true that the budget has increased and we appreciate what this administration has done,” he said. “But it’s been underfunded for so many years that there’s a lot more catching up that needs to be done. We believe that a lot more money and attention needs to be put into the VA than the president has put in this year.”

Manar said that even if the VA were overstaffed for the next three or four years, it would still be digging out from under its massive case load three years from now.

“If they don’t get ahead of the personnel issue now, they never will,” he said. “It takes three years to train a counselor in the VA system. It takes three years to train an adjudicator. This is not a Ford assembly line where three or four days from now they can put cars together.”

In his speech, Bush also cited a specific soldier, Army Spc. Eduardo Leal-Cardenas, who was left with shattered bones in both legs, and broken ribs, back and neck. He walked again after care from Walter Reed. “I was proud to be with him at Walter Reed when he took his citizenship oath. If you ask Eduardo what American citizenship means to him, he answers with just one word: ‘Freedom.’”

“A wonderful story,” Smith said. “But what you don’t see is how long he was waiting for his discharge, what he was rated and if he was rated fairly. I think that story is more remarkable for what it doesn’t say.”

The president’s speech is available here: www.whitehouse.gov/radio.

Related reading:

Official: Gates fired Army Secretary (March 2)

Editorial: Who’s to blame for Walter Reed (March 2)

Democrats say Harvey’s ouster isn’t enough (March 2)

Walter Reed topic of five hearings next week (March 2)

Maj. Gen. Eric Schoomaker named new Walter Reed head (March 2)

Committee subpoenas former Walter Reed chief (March 2)

Walter Reed chief fired; critics say more must go (March 2)

Army denies patients face daily inspections (Feb. 28)

Walter Reed patients told to keep quiet (Feb. 27)

Walter Reed soldier wins small victory (Feb. 27)

Gates’ candor on hospital woes lauded (Feb. 27)

Pentagon names members of Walter Reed panel (Feb. 23)

Renovations underway at Walter Reed (Feb. 22)

Wounded and waiting (Feb. 17)