This year on November 11th, we celebrate Veterans Day. It’s a Federal holiday, so when it occurs on a Thursday like it does this year, many people take off for the whole weekend. There are usually flags and barbecues and a recognition of those who have served. “Thank you for your service,” we say. But do we really mean it?
A few weeks ago, Jon Stewart launched a new program on Apple+ called “The Problem.” He chose to focus his first episode on what is happening to the care of our veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, many living near places where the military burned our trash. These “burn pits” were designed to burn the trash from the military bases, because there obviously wasn’t any “trash pickup” in these locations. The trash included human waste, batteries, clothes, paper, anything and everything that a military base might need to discard. The smoke that emanated from these burn pits was typically black and intense, and if a soldier were exposed to this smoke for any length of time, it seems logical that there would be medical problems related to that exposure. When these soldiers returned from war zones, sometimes even years later, some did develop cancers and lung diseases that might not be expected in a person of their age.
The Jon Stewart program highlighted the cases of several veterans who were suffering from diseases they attributed to the toxic burn pit exposure, but they claimed that their care was being denied and their claims rejected by the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Most of us probably thought that veterans are eligible for whatever care they need, but it is not quite that simple. By law and regulation to receive services, veterans must be honorably discharged and must not have more than a certain level of income that qualifies them to receive health care once they are discharged. The health care that eligible veterans receive is provided at 171 medical centers and 1293 health care facilities around the country. Telehealth is also available. Any veteran can walk into one of these facilities and be helped to apply for benefits. There is more information about this here as well.
But there is a difference between health benefits and disability benefits, just as in the private sector. Different systems administer these benefits and the requirements differ too. While most health care is available to veterans fairly readily upon establishing their eligibility, in order to receive disability benefits, veterans need to go through another application process, which can be frustrating and bureaucratic. Because of the data requirements, it takes the VA at least one full day to process each disability application, and with a backlog of thousands, the VA is clearly struggling to process applications more quickly.
The Stewart program did not explain the difference between health and disability benefits. The problem is clearly more complex than it was described. There are many smart and good people working at the VA at this moment to solve the problem of linking burn pit exposure to health and disability outcomes. They are not unaware of the challenges that vets face in proving their disability or disease was caused by these toxins. There is a long history of resolving similar challenges related to Agent Orange and the Vietnam War, and more recently several diseases like asthma have been “presumptively” linked to conditions in Iraq and elsewhere. Jon Stewart was arguing for “presumptive approval” for burn pit exposure as well as asthma and other respiratory diseases.
What can we do about all of this? It is good that Congress has stepped in, introducing several bills in both the House and the Senate (bipartisan bills, by the way) to clarify and speed up the process for veterans and provide more budgetary allocation as well. The Washington Post notes, “The bill introduced by Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, would provide health care and benefits to as many as 3.5 million veterans believed to have been exposed to toxic material. Under the measure, the VA would presume that war veterans were exposed to burn pits if they develop any of 23 cancers or respiratory illnesses after deployments in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries that house U.S. troops.”
How can you help? You can advocate with your own Congressional Representative for the passage of HR 2436. It has been introduced but has not yet passed the House. In addition to legislation, many organizations are advocating for better and speedier service for our Vets. We all need to do more to educate ourselves, and that should happen every day of the year, not just on Veterans Day. “Thank you for your service” is not enough for what our Vets have done for us.
Well written Linda. I’m about to try the Veteran’s Administration here in Chico because our health care provider is losing people weekly and I don’t have a general practitioner for simple preventive medical issues. Thank you for your article, it means a lot to us who served.
I hope your local VA will be helpful.!
Dear Linda – beautifully written, you are so right, we owe our Veterans so much. I was married for over 40 years to a man who suffered from Bi-Polar disease – he got it during the Vietnam War – let me tell you it was not easy for me – however he surely did his part..,and we definitely must do more than celebrate one day a year. I hope we eventually can provide them ALL with proper living quarters, as a tent is no sufficient.
Thank you, Ursula