Coming Home Is the Real Bottle
By Army Stress
The government emphasizes on how important our military is, but then they fail to help our disabled veterans and active duty soldiers obtain the proper treatment they need in order to have a happy life. The United States government needs to change policies and requirements to make it easier for troops and veterans to get the benefits they need to survive. We often tell our kids that our military is very important and that we should be grateful for what they do protect our country. What we do not tell our kids about are the dangerous situations and disabilities our soldiers encounter in and out of the battlegrounds. For example, many may have been through the valley of the death and have been injured in the act of duty; this would allow you to expect that the government would give them the proper treatment, but instead they toss them away like stray dogs. Instead, we should be protecting our troops and ensure that they get the proper treatment they need. However, the government in insanely strict on the requirements on getting disability benefits for our veterans. They are the reason we are safe today and we are putting them on the front lines, letting them see their brothers die in a warzone. We then expect them to be okay when they come home to their families and when they put their gun in their mouth and pull the trigger it is sad to say that sometimes the real battle is not fought over seas, sometimes it is coming home, and that is the hardest battle to win.
According to Thomas J. Reed from the Widener Law Journal, “The consensus of all the advocates and most members of congress was that the veterans’ disability compensation system was irretrievably broken” (61). The government is not doing its job of helping veterans properly. Congress knows that the system is broken, but they are failing to do something about it. These two systems have admitted that they need to be changed, but they continue to push the broken systems forward. Reed claims, “Injustice may be perpetrated in many ways: by active denial of one’s rights by evil administrators; by bureaucratic carelessness and laziness; or by refusal to modify a system that routinely causes injury to others because of its antiquated, paper driven adjudication system” (61-62). Reed explains the reason why our government is not changing the system is because they think it is too complicated and time consuming to change. This leads to outcomes of unfairness within health benefits for our nation’s veterans. This is caused by the carelessness and laziness that congress has when addressing issues. The government says they care so much about their troops, but are too lazy to take action upon a broken system. Reed discusses how these system work and explains what is wrong with them. Reed states, “this program requires disabled veterans who are about to be discharged for disability to submit to service medical evaluation boards, this system has its own occasions of injustice and traps for unaware and naïve about the process, can show the dangers and corruptions about the system. The troop may not know if they are getting the proper treatment as a result of being uneducated about the system the government uses for its disabled veterans program. The government needs to make changes to the disability program because the system is very complex and takes advantage of those who protect our country.
According t the study “Unclaimed Health Care Benefits: A Mixed-Method Analysis of Rural Veterans,” the majority of veterans living in the rural areas do not use V A healthcare benefits. This information was found by sending out a survey to veterans living in these areas. The article states, “Surveys were mailed to 4,176 households with a registered voter in a rural Midwestern country t reach the estimated 1,100 veterans, of whom 600 were not enrolled in VHA” (Wittrock et al. 35). This quote demonstrates a surprising number of veterans who are not enrolled in the VHA. The article states that the reason they were eligible” (Wittrock et al.35) this goes to show that the process of enrolling in the VHA can be confusing and unclear to those who need it most. This is creating a huge problem because people who are eligible think they are not. They then are not getting the proper treatment to ensure they are living a good life. This helps show that the government should and needs to make changes to their healthcare plans and how they give out their information.
The government needs to make terms that allow people te be able to understand and know what they are getting so that it is easier for people to receive their benefits. In order for this to be fixed, awareness needs to be brought to this situation. The government will not change this situation until the people of the country take a stand and fight for a change. The results of this article demonstrate that “…lack of awareness of VHA healthcare benefits may be the biggest barrier identified by rural veterans” (Wittrock et al. 35). This further shows that the people of the country need to take action or the government will continue to take advantage of our veterans by making these benefits not easy to access and making it difficult to understand the V A benefit health process. Also referring to this topic, the article states, “additionally, most reported they had never been told about VHA healthcare benefits” (Wittrock et al. 43). This is an issue because the government knew that most of its disabled veterans were eligible for benefits, but did not offer these benefits to them. The government thinks that if veterans do not come to them for help, they must not need it. This concept of ignoring what is needed for veterans could be considered morally wrong. Veterans may not know that they are disabled due to mental illness and may think that what they are experiencing is considered “normal.”
The article “Veterans Affairs Health System Enrolled and Health Care Utilization Affair the Affordable Care Act: Initial Insights,” shows how the government affordable health care act can benefit veterans. It discuses that this is currently the best health care that can be provided to an individual that is in need of treatment. Prior to this act, …an estimated 1 .5 million U.S. veterans did not have health insurance (including Veterans Affair [V A]) coverage in 2010” (Huo et al.469). This shows how many veterans had been uninsured and untreated before this act was created. The government had this act created for a reason. The article states, “…several aspects of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) could help decrease the number of uninsured veterans” (Huo et al. 469). This act is going to be put in place to ensure that veterans are going to be taken care of. It will ensure that veterans are getting the proper treatment and needs in order to be brought back to a normal state of well-being. The act claims that, “From an out-of-pocket standpoint, the VA is the more economical of the two options and this could account for the recent uptick in that group’s enrollment” (Huo et al. 473). This can be found good for veterans because it is giving them a cheaper option so that if they qualify for VA benefits, they will not have to go to Medicaid to receive the same treatment for a more expensive price. The act also shows that “Each veteran enrolled in the VA health care system is assigned a priority group that ranges from 1 to 8 with 1 being the highest priority for enrollment” (Huo et al .470). this can also be found as a good system because the VA is prioritizing veterans who need the most help> the Affordable Care Act and Health Care Act will ensure that the people who need the most help will not be at the back of the list. This allow there not to be a long waiting list and help those who need urgent care faster. If there was not a prioritized system, it is likely that many people would not get the help they need when they need it most.
The requirements for receiving disability benefits from the United States government are unreasonable and unrealistic. When receiving benefits, hey often do not help this issues that some may have. Proper medical treatment and more important issues need to be addressed, focused, and prioritized. Even though the Affordable Care Act sounds pleasant on paper, it is not offering veterans the best, affordable treatment they need when wanting to live a healthy, fear-free life. The main goal of the government, when discussing veteran services, should be working on physical helping veterans or having a place to go for mental treatment for disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder.