The Invisible Wounds: War Vets and the Struggle for Medical Benefits - Essay Example

Due The Invisible Wounds: War Vets and the Struggle for Medical Benefits Marine sergeant, Fred Ball is back at home, yet still at war. Bits and pieces of actual people bleeding to death, bomb explosions and the tremors; all are stuck in his mind. The emotional scars of military combats are just inerasable. In April 2004, a 26 year old Fred Ball (Marine sergeant) sustained minor injuries after being thrown 10 feet into the air by an M80 grenade explosive while on duty in Fallujah (Robinson par 1). Despite the explosion leaving him a bit destabilized, Ball, a man full of love in keeping his country safe, insisted on rejoining his colleagues immediately after his wound begun patching up. Little did he know that the decision was but a miscalculation that would soon worsen his condition even further. For a period of not less than three months, Ball relevance to the team was rendered inconsequential by a military medical report; an occurrence that forever changed the course of a life that once shielded the US safety from extremism. Ball was diagnosed with myriad medical problems: traumatic brain injury, memory problems, insomnia, chronic headaches, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and balance problems by a medical examination from Military doctors. Accordingly, his 3.5 high school grade-point average had reduced to a sixth-grade-level learning capability (Robison par 2). A medical report by Marine Corps found Ball unfit for service and consequently discharged him. He was, however, ruled not disabled enough to warrant full permanent disability retirement benefits. Only months out of service, Ball's state of affairs became even worse. The tremors experienced in the numerous blasts were back with a vengeance. He lost stability and hardly walked; a stability nightmare that extended to the very basics like using a fork or a pencil. Although he receives a monthly stipend of $337 from the Department of Veterans Affairs for the services he rendered to the nation while in service, he receives no medical care. He has been forced to work 16 hours a day at a packing-crate plant near his home town East Wenatchee. He has gone into debt in a bid to cover his $1,600 mortgage per month and support his family. With unstable health, his world has turned upside down and the condition is set to worsen under these circumstances, unless a remedy is quickly found. The Veterans affairs’ management of the military healthcare and benefits systems is riddled with deplorable inefficiencies that require sweeping reforms to ameliorate denials that only serve [at this stage] to unearth a pending disaster. Fred Ball's story is just but a replica of a shocking number of cases in which the U.S. military appears to have locked its wounded service men out of a full military disability retirement benefits on grounds of low disability ratings (Hoge et. al. 18-20). Even with the governments’ failure to honor the veterans’ plight for better treatment for the serious injuries sustained while on duty, the substandard outpatient care conditions given for these men and women who gave their best for the nation, most notably at Walter Reed Army Medical Center is worrisome. Apparently, the soldiers are being subjected to a dysfunctional disability ratings process that is not only short-changing the newest crop of veterans, but also setting precedence for worse health conditions hitherto not experienced before (Glantz 53). The current system that has existed for years is more of a mess to the veterans’ welfare. Recent statistics indicate tens of thousands caught up in ordeals arising from the causalities of Iraq and Afghanistan wars. A closer scrutiny of the report from the Army inspector general reveals of a system beset by ambiguities and inbuilt discrepancies. Information from the Department of defense shows that nearly 93 percent of disabled troops have received low ratings in the past (Robinson par 5). And the two wars mentioned above takes a larger share of the percentage. What's more, ground troops in particular, have received the lowest ratings yet they are the hardest hit by most combat injuries from the suicide bombers as well as the ubiquitous roadside bombs. Currently, approximately 24 million veterans are alive, but only about 11 percent do receive disability benefits (Bilmes 6). As of 2005, Records shows that the US government paid the sum of $23.4 billion in annual disability benefits to veterans involved in the previous wars. Nevertheless, by 2007, the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) already had piled up a backlog of 400,000 claims. Further, the Veterans Benefits Administration takes an average of 177 days processing an original claim, and about 657 days processing an appeal. Under these circumstances, the backlog is highly expected (Bilmes 8). In 2006, Frances Murphy, the Under Secretary for Health Policy Coordination based at the VA headquarters, did remark that mental healthcare as well as substance abuse care are simply inaccessible at some VA facilities, and where available, "waiting lists render them virtually inaccessible" (Daly par 6).That the laxity in the US government to cater for the growing influx of servicemen returning from Iraq and Afghanistan is clear; they have a slow system of claims processing of disability benefits and medical treatment capacity is always not enough-from the personnel available to facilities. Even with little outreach from the Department of Veteran Affairs, evidence points to overstrained facilities with increased demand from the new crop of veterans determined to get their deservedly earned benefits. In fact, the Veteran’s Affairs policy bars marketing of any kind from the affiliated hospitals and/or clinics; a policy aimed at maintaining a lean number of eligible veterans within their [Veteran Affairs’] register out of fear a “demand burst” over resources availed to them by the OMB [Office of Management and Budget] (Himmelstein et al. 2200). Even with the depressed numbers in need of the VA services, the wait for mere appointments seems indefinite (United States Veterans (b) 23). Of the 30,475 former soldiers that requested for enrolment for the VA medical services between 2005 and 2006, the average mean wait time was approximately six months (United States Veterans (c) 8). Those seeking Traumatic Brain Injury appointments are forced to wait more than 30 days for their cases to be processed, yet the urgency in their medical conditions are evident. New evidence obtained from the VA records suggests a longer wait times than official confessions (United States Veterans (a) p. ii). The shortage of stuffs in the Vet Centers, especially psychologists or therapists, does not make anything better for the already gloomy scenario. The numerous calls for the establishment of another program that would increase the budget have always been disregarded. Opened in 1909 with only 10 patients, Walter Reed Medical Centre, one of the Army's medical centers, has served wounded soldiers from almost every war. Nearly one out of every four veterans injured in Iraq and Afghanistan have had a life at the facility at some point. Civilian care coordinators, most probably relatives, walk in and out of Walter Reed seeking case managers’ assistance towards situations too dire for them to handle, only to encounter a system beset with bureaucracy not befitting a patient (Priest Dana and Hull par 3). A lot of complaints have emerged criticizing the facility of poor training and ill management of their clients’ conditions. On numerous occasions, the orders emanating from the facility’s managers seem too orthodox to be true, yet happening in the in a state considered superior among nations. Indeed, some soldiers assisted by relatives defy the odds to respond. For an amputee veteran to receive an order of reporting back to duty, more so not at home but to a base in Germany while sitting on a wheelchair and still under medication is just unthinkable (Glantz 50). Well, numerous of such orders are believed to have been authorized. Many have been dismissed for failing to oblige in spite of the overwhelming evidence on the contrary. Life beyond the hospital bed has been a hell of frustrating and voluminous paperwork. A typical wounded soldier had to file at least 22 documents with eight different commands to get any medical treatment in the said healthcare center (Priest Dana and Hull 4, par 3). The facility [Walter Reed Medical Centre] utilizes more than sixteen different information systems in addition to three personnel databases to process patients’ documents. In spite of presence of a well-equipped facility, as it sounds, the connection between the systems never existed at all. Access to the medical records from the existing databases was a tiresome process that drove patience out of the soldiers with no help in hand into suicidal instincts. The disappearance of necessary medical forms and records were common occurrences. As Priest and Hull reports, quite a number of soldiers had to over stay at the facility longer than necessary due to the long disjointed procedures (p.4). It is disturbing that the databases had no organized system of storing records even for the recent soldiers deployed in risky places such as Iraq or other conflict zones. Cases of soldiers being returned for lack of evidence that they served in frontline combat in Iraq or any other placement of the kind are common. In one case, a combat medic had to do three tours back in her former places of duty to bring in letters and photos taken in Iraq just to prove that she had been there, after records failed to reveal her status (Childers 143-46). This is one case in numerous of such incidences. Many others with impaired memories sustained from brain injuries have taken weeks with no appointments and no one dare to help them arrange for one. Many have disappeared in the process of delays. Others simply leave for home. Away from bureaucratic process in the same facility, rodent infestation issues in building 18 served to harden proof that the neglect of military was nothing of a bother to the government (Priest and Hull 5). As at the time of the duo’s revelation, some of the rooms in this facility were badly damaged to deserve the reception of victim soldiers who had served the nation so diligently. In spite of the numerous visits by high profile figures in government, life in building 18 remained in the awful status. The seemingly bleak homecoming for soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the sake of security of the nation is but a worrying trend with far reaching ramifications on the morale of soldiers currently on duty, the security of the United States and the world at large. The Veterans affairs’ management of the healthcare of its men out service with invisible wounds is just but unacceptable scenario wrecking in families of the victims; a burden that the state should honorably shoulder. The period spanning from 2001 to 2007, the Army wing of the armed forces misdiagnosed and ejected from service more than 5,600 soldiers without full benefits on account of personality disorders and other well-orchestrated moves that seem to absolve the government from responsibility (Kors par 14). The numbers continue to rise unabated. It is apparent that soldiers are getting a raw deal out of the benefits they rightfully deserve. The sooner they get help the better. Empty rhetoric only worsens the condition of the nation’s beloved soldiers who risked all, including their lives, for a secure nation. The congress should get their act together and dispense justice where necessary. Work cited Bilmes, Linda. Soldiers Returning from Iraq and Afghanistan: The Long-Term Costs of Providing Veterans Medical Care and Disability Benefits. John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. Faculty Working Papers Series, 2007. Web. 13 Mar. 2013. Childers, Thomas. Soldier from the War Returning: The Greatest Generation's Troubled Homecoming from World War II. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009. Print. Daly, Rich. “New Freedom Commission Members Assess Report’s Impact.” Psychiatric News 5 May, 2006. Web. 13 Mar. 2013. Glantz, Aaron. The War Comes Home: Washington’s Battle Against America's Veterans. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009.Print. Himmelstein, David, et al. “Lack of Health Coverage Among US Veterans From 1987 to 2004.” American Journal of Public Health 97.12 (2007): 2199–2203. Print. Hoge, Charles W., et al. “Combat Duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, Mental Health Problems, and Barriers to Care.” New England Journal of Medicine 351 (2004): 13-22. Print. Kors, Joshua. “How Specialist Town Lost His Benefits.” The Nation 29 Mar. 2007. Web. 13 March 2013.   Priest, Dana and Hull, Anne. “Soldiers Face Neglect, Frustration at Army's Top Medical Facility.” Washington Post 18 Feb. 2007. Web. 13 Mar. 2013. Robinson, Linda. “Insult to Injury: New Data Reveal an Alarming Trend: Vets' Disabilities are Being Downgraded.” US News & World Report 8 April 2007. Web. 13 Mar. 2013. United States Veterans (a). Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General. “Audit of the Veterans Health Administration’s Outpatient Waiting Times. Washington, DC: Dept. of Veterans Affairs, 2007. Print. United States Veterans (b). Department of Veterans Affairs. VA Health Care: Budget Formulation and Reporting on Budget Execution Need Improvement. Washington, DC: Dept. of Veterans Affairs, 2006. Print. United States Veterans (c). Department of Veterans Affairs: Key Management Challenges in Health and Disability Programs. Washington, DC: Dept. of Veterans Affairs, 2003. Print. Read More