Pentagon wants $99 Billion more...

[waltky]

Maybe they could use some of the money to pay Agent Orange claims...

Agent Orange tied to blood pressure risk
July 27, 2007 - Findings get vets closer to having government-paid services for ailment

U.S. veterans exposed to the defoliant Agent Orange during the Vietnam War may face an increased risk of high blood pressure, an expert panel said on Friday, citing what it called limited but important evidence. The report by a panel of the U.S. Institute of Medicine was the latest in a series issued every two years assessing the health effects of exposure to Agent Orange and other chemicals used as herbicides by the U.S. military in Vietnam.

The panel, which reviewed about 350 epidemiological and animal studies, also pointed to evidence linking those chemicals to AL amyloidosis, a rare disease in which protein builds up around organs.

Those findings add both conditions to a list of Agent Orange-linked health problems that already includes several rare cancers, type II diabetes and birth defects in the children of the veterans exposed. The findings may bring veterans one step closer to getting government-paid medical services for these conditions.

Links are persuasive

[waltky]

Incompetence and corruption run rife in Iraq and they want more money???...

Corruption 'mars Iraq rebuilding'
Monday, 30 July 2007, Reports of widespread fraud and waste of funds in Iraq

The US agency overseeing reconstruction in Iraq has told the BBC that economic mismanagement and corruption there are equivalent to "a second insurgency". The chief auditor assigned by Congress, Stuart Bowen, said the Iraqi government was failing to take responsibility for projects worth billions of dollars. Mr Bowen also said his agency was investigating more than 50 fraud cases. Meanwhile, nearly a third of Iraq's population is in need of emergency aid, a report by Oxfam and Iraqi NGOs says.

The report said the Iraqi government was failing to provide basic essentials such as water, food, sanitation and shelter for up to eight million people. It warned that the continuing violence was masking a humanitarian crisis that had escalated since the US-led invasion in 2003. On Monday, six people were killed and at least 12 injured in a car bomb attack in Baghdad. The US military also announced the deaths of three of its soldiers in the western province of Anbar.

'Troubling'

US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen was appointed to audit $44bn (£22bn) allocated since 2003, after reports of widespread fraud and waste. The agency publishes quarterly reports on the situation, most of which have complained about a serious lack of progress. Monday's report was no different. "Millions of Iraqis have been forced to flee the violence, either to another part of Iraq or abroad - many of those are living in dire poverty" - Jeremy Hobbs, Director of Oxfam International

More BBC NEWS | Middle East | Corruption 'mars Iraq rebuilding'

[waltky]

Maybe they could use some of that money to provide health insurance coverage for veterans...

Almost two million veterans lack health insurance coverage
Nov 05 2007 - Study finds sharp increase in number of veterans without health insurance coverage since 2000

One in every eight (12.2 percent) of the 47 million Americans without health insurance is a veteran or member of a veteran's household, according to a study by Harvard Medical School researchers based at the Cambridge Health Alliance. The study is published in the December, 2007 issue of the American Journal of Public Health. Just under two million veterans (12.7 percent of non-elderly veterans) were uninsured in 2004, up 290,000 since 2000, the study published in the December, 2007 issue of the American Journal of Public Health found. An additional 3.8 million members of their households were also uninsured and ineligible for VA care.

The study is based on detailed analyses of government surveys released between 1988 and 2005. Veterans were only classified as uninsured if they neither had health insurance nor received ongoing care at Veterans Health Administration (VHA) hospitals or clinics. A preliminary review by the study’s authors of 2006 data released last month (while this study was in press) shows little change in the number of uninsured veterans since 2004.

“Like other uninsured Americans, most uninsured vets are working people – too poor to afford private coverage but not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid or means-tested VA care,” said Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, a physician at Cambridge Health Alliance and an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Woolhandler testified before Congress about the problem earlier this year. “As a result, veterans and their family members delay or forgo needed health care every day in the U.S.,” said Woolhandler.

More Almost two million veterans lack health insurance coverage Affordable Health Insurance

[waltky]

Would be nice if these soldiers saw 1% of the money...

Number of disabled vets on the rise
Sun., May. 11, 2008 WASHINGTON - Medical advances help troops survive injuries that could have been fatal

Increasing numbers of U.S. troops have left the military with damaged bodies and minds, an ever-larger pool of disabled veterans that will cost the nation billions for decades to come — even as the total population of America’s vets shrinks.

Despite the decline in total vets — as soldiers from World War II and Korea die — the government expects to be spending $59 billion a year to compensate injured warriors in 25 years, up from today’s $29 billion, according to internal documents obtained by The Associated Press. And the Veterans Affairs Department concedes the bill could be much higher. Why?

Worse wounds. More disabilities. More vets aware of the benefits and quicker to file for them. Also, ironically, advanced medical care. Troops come home with devastating injuries that might well have killed them in earlier wars.

Time is also a factor when it comes to disability compensation costs. Payments tend to go up as veterans age, and an increasing number of soldiers from the Vietnam War will be getting bigger payments as they get older and are less able to work around their disabilities.

‘A cost of war’

[waltky]

Say what???...

VA psychologist to staff: don't diagnose PTSD
May 16, 2008 - A furor has erupted over a psychologist’s email directing staff at a Texas veterans facility to withhold diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder from soldiers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq.

In the email, Norma J. Perez, PTSD program coordinator at the Olin E. Teague Veterans’ Center in Temple, Texas, tells staff “given that we are having more and more compensation seeking veterans, I’d like to suggest that you refrain from giving a diagnosis of PTSD straight out.” Instead, she advises “consider a diagnosis of Adjustment Disorder.” Veteran Affairs staff “really don’t ... have the time to do the extensive testing that should be done to determine PTSD,” Perez wrote.

VA Secretary James Peak immediately called Perez’s email “inappropriate” and insisted that it didn’t reflect VA policy, the Washington Post reported Friday. In a statement, Peak said the staffer’s action was “repudiated at the highest level of our health care organization.” Oddly, Peake indicated that Perez – a psychologist – was staying in her job, after becoming “extremely apologetic” when counseled. That infuriated people writing comments at the Washington Post’s Web site, who called Perez a “no good dirt bag” and recommended that she be given “100 lashes” and “fired for dereliction of duty.”

What’s at stake is veterans’ ability to get disability and health care benefits from the VA. A diagnosis of “adjustment disorder” doesn’t deliver the same level of benefits as would a diagnosis of PTSD, Paul Sullivan, the executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, told CBS news. “VA staff across the country are working their hearts out to get our veterans the care they need and deserve,” U.S. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) told CBS. “But emails like these make their jobs far more difficult.”

The chairs of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees promised Friday to investigate the matter, and Sen. Barack Obama (D.-Ill.) called Perez’s email “outrageous” in a statement calling for a probe. Rep. Bob Filner (D-Calif.), who heads the House committee, said he wanted to know whether the Texas psychologist was acting on orders. “Where is she getting it from,” Filner said he wanted Peake to explain, according to the Associated Press. “Why is she saying this? Who is giving her the order?”

More Triage | Chicago Tribune | Blog

[waltky]

Maybe they could use some of that money to treat PTSD?...

Wartime PTSD cases jumped roughly 50 pct. in 2007
May 28, 2008: WASHINGTON - The number of troops with new cases of post-traumatic stress disorder jumped by roughly 50 percent in 2007 amid the military buildup in Iraq and increased violence there and in Afghanistan.

Records show roughly 40,000 troops have been diagnosed with the illness, also known as PTSD, since 2003. Officials believe that many more are likely keeping their illness a secret. "I don't think right now we ... have good numbers," Army Surgeon General Eric Schoomaker said Tuesday. Defense officials had not previously disclosed the number of PTSD cases from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Army statistics showed there were nearly 14,000 newly diagnosed cases across the services in 2007 compared with more than 9,500 new cases the previous year and 1,632 in 2003. Schoomaker attributed the big rise over the years partly to the fact that officials started an electronic record system in 2004 that captures more information, and to the fact that as time goes on the people keeping records are more knowledgeable about the illness.

He also blamed increased exposure of troops to combat. Factors increasing troop exposure to combat in 2007 included President Bush's troop buildup and the fact that 2007 was the most violent year in both conflicts. More troops also were serving their second, third or fourth tours of duty - a factor mental health experts say dramatically increases stress. And in order to supply enough forces for the buildup, officials also extended tour lengths to 15 months from 12, another factor that caused extra emotional strain.

More My Way News - Wartime PTSD cases jumped roughly 50 pct. in 2007

[waltky]

What flea-brain thought up this one???...

'Disposable Heroes': Mentally Distressed Veterans Used to Test Suicide-Linked Drugs
June 17, 2008 - ABC News/Washington Times Investigation: Vet drug tests, violent side-effects.

Mentally distressed veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are being recruited for government tests on pharmaceutical drugs linked to suicide and other violent side effects, an investigation by ABC News and "The Washington Times" has found. The report will air on "Good Morning America" and will also appear in "The Washington Times" on Tuesday. In one of the human experiments, involving the anti-smoking drug Chantix, Veterans Administration doctors waited more than three months before warning veterans about the possible serious side effects, including suicide and neuropsychiatric behavior.

"Lab rat, guinea pig, disposable hero," said former US Army sniper James Elliott in describing how he felt he was betrayed by the Veterans Administration. Elliott, 38, of suburban Washington, D.C., was recruited, at $30 a month, for the Chantix anti-smoking study three years after being diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He served a 15-month tour of duty in Iraq from 2003-2004. Months after he began taking the drug, Elliott suffered a mental breakdown, experiencing a relapse of Iraq combat nightmares he blames on Chantix. "They never told me that I was going to be suicidal, that I would cease sleeping. They never told me anything except this will help me quit smoking," Elliott told ABC News and "The Washington Times".

On the night of February 5th, after consuming a few beers, Elliott says he "snapped" and left his home with a loaded gun. His fiancee, Tammy, called police and warned, "He's extremely unstable. He has PTSD." "Do you think that he is going to shoot or attack the police?" the 911 dispatcher asked. "I can't be certain. I don't know," she said. "He was operating as if he was back in theater, in combat theater," she told ABC News. "And of course, a soldier goes nowhere without a gun." When police arrived, they found Elliott in the street, with the gun in the front pocket of his hooded sweatshirt.

More ABC News: 'Disposable Heroes': Mentally Distressed Veterans Used to Test Suicide-Linked Drugs

[waltky]

`Bout time they provided a hot-line...

Suicide Hot Line Got Calls From 22,000 Veterans
WASHINGTON July 28, 2008 - More than 22,000 veterans sought help from suicide hot line in its first year, government says

More than 22,000 veterans have sought help from a special suicide hot line in its first year, and 1,221 suicides have been averted, the government says. According to a recent RAND Corp. study, roughly one in five soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan displays symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, putting them at a higher risk for suicide. Researchers at Portland State University found that male veterans are twice as likely to commit suicide than men who are not veterans.

This month, a former Army medic, Joseph Dwyer, who was shown in a Military Times photograph running through a battle zone carrying an Iraqi boy, died of an accidental overdose after struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder for almost five years. Janet Kemp, national suicide prevention coordinator for the Veterans Affairs Department, said the hot line is in place to help prevent deaths such as Dwyer's. "We just want them to know there's other options and people do care about them, and we can help them make a difference in their lives," she said in an interview.

The VA teamed up with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to launch the hot line last July after years of criticism that the VA wasn't doing enough to help wounded soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. In April, two veterans groups sued the VA, citing long delays for processing applications and other problems in treatment for veterans at risk for suicide. The department has spent $2.9 million on the hot line thus far.

The hot line receives up to 250 calls per day — double the average number calling when it began. Kemp said callers are divided evenly between veterans from the Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam wars. Richard McKeon, public health adviser for SAMHSA, said 10 to 20 of the 1,575 calls received each week have to be rerouted to high-volume backup call centers throughout the country.

More ABC News: Suicide Hot Line Got Calls From 22,000 Veterans