Wars weigh on VA health care, experts say

Wars weigh on VA health care, experts say
By Steve Liewer

Even with big boosts in funding, the Veterans Affairs medical system is sagging under the burden of treating wounded troops from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, several experts on veterans' health said during a forum Thursday night at UCSD.

Congress has approved a $13 billion spending increase – about 30 percent – for the VA in the coming year, said Rep. Bob Filner, D-San Diego, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs.

But he suggested that additional money can't create an overnight transformation. Nearly six years of warfare have produced about 700,000 veterans, he said, and more than 200,000 of them have filed claims with the VA.

“The system is at its breaking point,” Filner said.     The San Diego VA Healthcare System is treating nearly 5,500 veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, said Gary Rossio, the network's director. Each week, he said, the system takes in about 30 more patients from those conflicts.

Typically, new veterans must wait months before VA administrators determine their eligibility for VA medical care. Rossio said that's because the average application lists 17 possible grounds for claims, compared with three or four during earlier eras.

“The claims are six times more complicated, and we're trying to handle them with the same (amount of) staff,” Rossio said.

Filner called for major changes in the way veterans' claims are assessed. He advocated mass screening of combat troops before they leave their respective services.

He also said veterans should stop being forced to prove that they suffered injuries during their military service.

“Fighting the bureaucracy, that's what's killing them,” Filner said.

Awareness of brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder has risen dramatically in recent years, said Murray Stein, director of the Anxiety & Traumatic Stress Program at the University of California San Diego and the local VA system.

“We think we're going to do the best for them if we can see them sooner,” Stein said.

The forum was sponsored by the United Students for Veterans' Health, the Veterans Association of UCSD, and College Democrats.

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