The Critical Need for New PSTD Funding for Returning Veterans of Iraq/Afghanistan Wars

THE CRITICAL NEED FOR NEW PTSD FUNDING FOR RETURNING VETERANS OF IRAQ/AFGHANISTAN WARS
12/6/2005

(VA Medical Center in White River Junction, VT)

I would like to thank you all for being here today and a special thanks to Gary DeGasta who is the head of the VA Medical Center here in White River Junction. I know that, like me, he is committed to ensuring that returning veterans of the War in Iraq and the War in Afghanistan receive the benefits and support that they have earned through their service.

Anyone who turns on the television news or reads a newspaper cannot escape the fact that the War in Iraq is a politically divisive issue. But while the war itself is controversial, we should be very clear that the American people are united in their commitment to make sure that the men and women of the armed forces who are in Iraq and who are in Afghanistan receive whatever assistance they need when they return home. And that goes not just for the current wars, but for veterans of every conflict.

Unfortunately, the leadership of the Congress and the White House often seem to fail to share that commitment. As many of you know, the VA budget in recent years has failed to keep up with medical inflation. This year the President proposed a budget for VA programs that was over three billion dollars below what many of the leading veterans organizations calculated was necessary to provide quality care to our veterans, including those returning from the Middle East. Only after an incredible amount of pressure from veterans organizations and some of us in Congress did the Administration finally concede that it's budget would not meet the growing workload of the VA.

At the same time, the Administration continues to bar over 160,000 so-called category 8 veterans from receiving any care at the VA. This group of veterans include some with annual incomes as low as $25,000, yet the White House says their incomes are too high to receive VA care. When the Chairman of the U.S. Committee on Veterans Affairs complained about the underfunding of veterans programs, he was not only removed as the chair, but kicked off the Veterans Committee altogether.

Against this backdrop of gross underfunding and hostility to efforts to provide the resources that our veterans needs, the VA's workload continues to grow as our servicemen and women return from Iraq and Afghanistan. Many have incurred serious physical injuries. And many are coming back wounded not in body but in spirit. Still others are finding it difficult to readjust to civilian life and to family life following their dangerous service abroad. According to an Army survey, 28% of Iraqi veterans - equaling some 50,000 this year alone - returned home with problems ranging from lingering physical problems to suicidal thoughts to strained marriages. We, as a nation, have a responsibility to stand by these veterans in their time of need.

Today, we are focusing on the psychological injuries and readjustment issues that too many are facing. We should keep in mind that these are serious and widespread problems. Last year, the New England Journal of Medicine published research that found that 15 to 17% of front-line troops suffered depression, anxiety or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, also known as PTSD. Unfortunately, the severe underfunding of the VA means that, as reported in the June issue of the journal General Hospital Psychiatry, VA primary care clinics too often fail to recognize PTSD. In fact, that study showed over half the instances of PTSD were missed.

Here in Vermont, we have been working to keep ahead of the curve on PTSD, other mental health issues, and family readjustment issues. With the help of half a million dollars in federal funding I secured, Gary DeGasta and his people have been doing some really excellent work to set up the infrastructure here in Vermont to make sure our people get the care they need. Gary will talk about those important initiatives in more detail in a minute but they included providing PTSD training to hundreds of service professionals, increasing the VA mental health capacity statewide and providing therapy directly to servicemembers and their families. Again, this aggressive intervention by the VA folks here in Vermont should put us ahead of the curve but we need a comprehensive national approach that ensures every veteran in every state gets the care he or she needs.

To accomplish that I am cosponsoring cutting edge legislation that would provide the VA with the resources and an approach required to meet the needs of our returning service members. Importantly, this legislation recognizes that early intervention and early treatment are critical to dealing with PTSD and conditions.

Among other provisions, this legislation, H.R. 1588 - the Comprehensive Assistance for Veterans Exposed to Traumatic Stressors Act of 2005 - would:

• require VA to commit:

a. 100 additional full-time equivalent employees to Readjustment Counseling Service outstations.

b. A PTSD Clinical Team at every medical center of the Veterans Health Administration.

c. A family therapist at each Vet Center.

d. A PTSD Coordinator in each regional network referred to as a Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN).

e. A PTSD coordinator in each regional office of the Readjustment Counseling Service whose duties shall include liaison with regional office staff and medical centers for veterans seeking service-connection for PTSD.

- require VA to develop, in consultation with DOD, an integrated program to respond to a variety of mental health disorders prevalent among veterans of service in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom;

- authorize VA to provide counseling to the immediate family members of veterans with service-connected disabilities and bereavement counseling to the immediate family members of members of the Armed Forces who are killed in action for up to one year after the initial services are delivered to eligible family members;

- require VA and DOD to jointly develop a broad training program for all health-care providers to familiarize those providers with mental health-care issues that are likely to arise among persons deployed to combat theaters during the five years after such a deployment; and, importantly,

- require the VA to conduct an aggressive, comprehensive outreach program to enhance the awareness of veterans, and the public in general, of the symptoms of PTSD and of the services available for veterans with those symptoms.

This legislation would provide desperately needed resources for the VA and for our veterans. I will continue to fight for this bill and more generally to make sure no veterans "fall through the cracks."

In closing, let me reiterate what I believe the American people feel about our veterans. Every man and every woman who puts on the uniform of our country is entitled when they come home to all the health care they need - whether their injuries are physical, psychological, or both. We know that veterans are coming home in large numbers who are suffering from PTSD and other psychological conditions. We cannot repeat the mistakes of the past. We cannot turn our backs on them. And I know that if we in this room have our way, we will not.

http://bernie.house.gov/documents/document.asp?issueNum=4693