A VA program that is supposed to help veterans obtain low-cost health care may be so backed up that it cannot pay doctors on time. As a consequence, many veterans are now being hit with medical bills they cannot afford, and as such taking major damage on their credit scores.

The VA's Veterans Choice program, which is supposed to give former servicemembers access to the physicians they want to see, is instead causing major credit problems, according to a report from the Military Times. Because of the delayed payments many may face when they seek treatment from non-VA doctors, the bills are passed on to patients themselves. And when they're not paid, they're sent to collections, potentially bringing a veteran's score down by more than 100 points.

"Now this veteran has damaged health and damaged credit due to the VA," Ruiz said during a House Veterans' Affairs subcommittee hearing. "This damage that veterans suffer due to the VA's reimbursement system is irreparable and unacceptable."

For its part, the VA says that about 7 in 10 doctor's visits have their bills paid within 30 days, the report said. However, it should be noted that this is in comparison with a rate of 99 percent of visits being taken care of within the same time period via Medicaid, so the VA still has some catching up to do in that regard. This fact was also covered in a recent audit of the VA, which found the government organization does not have sufficient "program controls" to operate effectively.

This is certainly an issue veterans will need to monitor closely, as their decisions around use of the Veterans Choice program could have a major impact on a number of aspects of their lives.

Many organizations exist to help veterans re-acclimate themselves to civilian life once again when they get out of the service. However, one such group that recently launched may be unique in its offerings to soldiers who are trying to get back on their feet.

The gaming nonprofit Stack-Up.org recently partnered with the founder of virtual reality platform Oculus and creator of the popular indie game DayZ, as a means of helping more veterans through these methods, according to a report from the group. Dean Hall, the creator of DayZ, is actually a veteran as well, having served as an officer in both the Army and Air Force for his native New Zealand.

"As a veteran myself, it's fantastic to see organizations like Stack-Up supporting the next generation of veterans through a common love of video games," Hall said. "Gaming offers a unique opportunity to relieve the stresses, tensions, and social challenges of being separated from your friends and family while on deployment. Stephen's work has been making a very real difference in the lives of many veterans all around the world and I'm really excited to be able to support that."

Meanwhile, Palmer Luckey is the founder of Oculus and designer of its popular Rift VR headset, and said that he wants to make sure there is a community of gamers out there to help support veterans and current servicemembers whenever they need it, the report said. To that end, both he and Hall have joined Stack-Up.org's advisory board.

The more that any organization can do to make soldiers and veterans feel more secure in their situations, the better off those current and former service members will be in the long run. Likewise, those people can reach out to such organizations to get help when they need it.

The National Park Service may limit the number of items it gathers from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, reported The Associated Press. The department plans to keep only items associated with veterans listed on the memorial.

"By refining the scope of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Collection, we can ensure that our energy and resources will preserve items with a direct and specific relationship to veterans of the Vietnam War," Gay Vietzke, superintendent of the National Mall and Memorial Parks, told Reuters.

According to Statista, around four million people visit the monument every year.

The park service has been collecting items left at the monument since 1982, reported PBS. It stores them in the Museum Resource Center in Washington D.C. Over the years, the department has collected over 500,000 items from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, including a customized Harley-Davidson motorcycle, military decorations and thousands of personal notes.

"It really is a very unique collection – and a vast majority of these items are left anonymously," Bob Sonderman, director and regional curator of the Museum Resource Center, said in an interview with the news organization.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is currently raising funds to build a new storage facility for the items. The space, called The Education Center at The Wall, will cost over $100 million. According to its architects, the building will not only showcase some of the items but also contain portraits for each of the more than 58,000 combat veterans memorialized on the Vietnam monument and an interactive timeline of the war.

In August of last year, the National Park Service also created a virtual collection of 500 items left behind at the memorial.

The park service is now accepting public comments on the proposed changes to its item-collection policy. The deadline is March 10.

On Feb. 9, the Obama administration released its 2017 budget proposal, reported The New York Times. The spending blueprint calls for an additional $75.1 billion in funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs. The total proposed budget for the VA amounts to $178.7 billion, a 5 percent increase over the department's budget for the 2016 fiscal year.

Congress must still approve the plan. According to Stars and Stripes, the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs was scheduled to hold its fist hearing on the proposal Feb. 10.

The budget plan includes frameworks for improving the VA's much-maligned internal processes. Approximately $46.2 million is earmarked for an initiative to modernize the benefit claims process. The administration plans to hire an additional 242 full-time VA employees and purchase new technology to streamline the system.

"Unfortunately, under current law today, the VA appeals framework is not serving the needs of our veterans," the administration said in a news release. "The current process – which has built up over the past 80 years – is complex, ineffective and opaque."

The proposal sets aside $7.2 billion for outside health programs and $1.6 billion for programs for homeless veterans. In 2009 former Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki made a pledge to end homelessness among veterans by 2015. Though the department failed to achieve this goal, it has made strides in combating the problem. With federal aid, cities like Phoenix have successfully housed all of their formerly homeless veterans, reported The New York Times. And, under the Obama administration, homelessness among veterans has fallen by 32 percent, reported PolitiFact. The budget also calls for $65 million to fund over 1,000 VA medical facilities across the country. These sites serve an estimated 9 million veterans.

For some time now, the Professional Golf Association has made it a goal to assist wounded veterans in getting back to 100 percent, both physically and mentally. As a result, its PGA HOPE Veteran Clinic that recently ended continues to be a major success.

The eight-week HOPE program (which stands for "Helping Our Patriots Everywhere") brings veterans to the golf course and to get lessons for free. The effort has gone over very well, bringing thousands of veterans physical, social, and mental work they might not have had otherwise, according to a report from CBS 12. The "graduation" ceremony even features tournaments, surprises, and gifts for participants.

"The graduation isn't the end of our involvement with these brave men and women, as PGA Golf Club will offer continuing programming to all graduates," PGA Golf Club general manager Jimmy Terry told the station.

These kinds of programs, created with the assistance of organizations large and small, go a long way toward helping veterans deal with the lingering issues they often have after service, and help to put them back on the path to leading a normal, happy life.

Many companies across the country make a point to hire veterans as part of their business model, because they know how beneficial it can be to both parties. However, there is one car service in New York City that takes it a step further: It hires veterans exclusively to be its drivers.

The relatively new firm, called Capstar, was actually started in London, but has since come across the Atlantic, and has a goal of hiring only veterans to drive its vehicles, according to a report from ABC 7 Chicago. These veterans often have driving experience – operating massive vehicles – that others simply do not, and the work they do in the service can help to inform their habits afterward as well.

"When you have an ex-soldier or sailor that turns up to to drive, you know that they will have done their route recon the night before, they'll be there 30 minutes early, their uniform will be impeccable, the car will be spotless, they'll be polite, discreet, reliable, all the things you want in that service," Capstar's Casey Martinez told the station.

Veterans who can obtain a good job after they leave the service often get a lot out of that work, usually more than civilians filling the same job might.

The discovery of a forgotten Purple Heart has united distant family members, reported The Associated Press.

U.S. Army technician Eugene Victor Call and seven other soldiers were killed March 2, 1945 in Kapellen, Germany during World War II's Battle of the Bulge. The 32-year-old was a part of 2nd Platoon, Company C, 643rd Tank Destroyer Battalion, 83rd Infantry Division. Call received a posthumous Purple Heart for his service.

In October of 2015, Virginia Diagle of Fitchburg, Massachusetts passed away at the age of 82, leaving behind her husband Rick Diagle, reported the Sentinel and Enterprise. While taking inventory of his wife's possessions, Diagle came upon Call's Purple Heart. He soon discovered that his mother-in-law had been married to the deceased Army technician.

Diagle, a veteran himself, contacted the Vermont-based nonprofit Purple Hearts Reunited which returns lost or stolen military commendations to veterans or their surviving relatives. The organization put him in contact with distant relatives in Newport, New Hampshire and San Diego.

"This week's been quite a roller coaster ride. It's been almost 71 years since he died, but I'm almost reliving it – it's almost brand new to me," Mark Morris, a grandchild of Call's based in San Diego, said in an interview with the wire service. Morris' father, David Eugene, was taken to California when he was 8 and had few memories of Call. Eugene died in 2004. "I'm loving getting the medals but just finding out about all the family is awesome."

Diagle also reached out to Eugene Victor Call Jr., a 49 year-old truck driver in Newport. Call Jr. knew one of his great-uncles had died in World War II.

"I knew I was named after him, but other than that, nobody really said too much," he said.

Returning honor
Army National Guardsman and Purple Heart recipient Zachariah Fike founded Purple Hearts Reunited in July 2012, reported NPR. Fike started the organization after his mother gave him for Christmas a Purple Heart she had found in an antique shop. The name Corrado A.G. Piccoli was engraved on the back. Fike discovered that Piccoli had been killed in Europe during World War II and resolved to return the medal to his family.

The guardsman eventually tracked down Piccoli's sister Adeline Rockko in New Lisbon, New Jersey and returned the medal.

"We were very fortunate that you were the one who ended up with the Purple Heart," Rockko told Fike during a radio interview with NPR. "You're part of our family now."

Purple Hearts Reunited has returned service medals to over 200 veterans and family members.

Riding a bike is an exercise many Americans undertake every day as a means of staying in shape, but these days, one group of veterans is getting a lot of mileage out of the practice after being wounded during service.

A number of current service members in the Air Force recently participated in the Ride 2 Recovery along with 20 wounded veterans near Las Vegas, according to a report from the Air Force News Service. Altogether, the current and former airmen rode their bikes 20 miles through mountainous terrain over the course of three days, as part of a program that not only focuses on rehabbing injuries, but also building a team spirit and improving veterans' confidence.

One of the organizers of this group of vets noted that one of the servicemembers who participated was very reserved, but after the program has become a lot more outgoing, the report said. Another who was paralyzed from the neck down can ride up to 10 miles with the group, up from just a quarter of a mile previously.

"I'm just happy to be alive and be out here because I spent a lot of time depressed," retired Master Sgt. Chris White told the news organization. "To be out here, it puts all the negativity out of my head and for that time I'm happy to be with my friends. We're brothers in arms and I'm in my element with people who are like minded, and just want to escape the daily grind of having their struggles and be around people who understand what it's like."

These kinds of groups can do a world of good for veterans in need, and often all those service members need to do is reach out and ask for assistance when they need it.

Suicide among veterans is at an unfortunately high level and has been for quite a while now. And after a new study found that this was particularly true among female veterans, a number of federal legislators came together to try to address the issue.

The Female Veterans Suicide Prevention Act, backed by U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Barbara Boxer of California, Joni Ernst of Iowa, and Sherrod Brown of Ohio, would allow the VA to expand the ways in which it evaluates mental health of female former servicemembers in particular.The legislation would also examine which programs are most effective in treating those veterans, according to a report from the New Haven Register. This comes after a study by the VA found that female veterans commit suicide at a rate six times greater than that of female civilians.

"With suicide among women veterans happening at an alarming rate, (the bill) will help save lives by ensuring VA is providing the care, counseling and outreach these veterans need," Blumenthal told the newspaper.

Right now there are about 2 million female veterans nationwide, and if the suicide rate observed in the study holds true, that constitutes almost 700 preventable deaths, the report said. That compares with just 108 among a similar slice of the female civilian population. In addition, the number of female vets is also the fastest-growing demographic group among those treated by the VA. The government organization recognizes that it has to do more to help them in particular, with some 16,000 currently not in the VA system to a sufficient degree, and little money coming in to help expand those efforts.

The more the VA and other agencies or groups can do to reach veterans regardless of their gender or other issues, the better off they will be in the future.

Many people try to help veterans in rather material ways, giving them financial, medical, and even housing support. But others can also help veterans in other ways, and that's just what a funeral home in Wisconsin is doing in conjunction with local Girl Scouts these days.

Herman-Taylor Funeral Home in Wisconsin Rapids recently began collecting Valentine's Day cards and, with the help of those Girl Scouts, distributing them to former servicemembers at the nearby Wisconsin Veterans Home at King, after years of sending them to those serving overseas, according to a report from Wausau television station WAOW. At this point, more than 250 cards have already been given by local residents, and they will be dropped off starting Feb. 10 to the more than 700 vets who live at the facility.

"I started visiting a lot of the veterans finding out that many of them have no spouse, they have no grand kids, they have nobody come to visit," Ronald Miller, who works at Wisconsin Veterans Home at King American Legion Hospital, told the station.

The more that can be done to make veterans feel comfortable and appreciated, the better. Many organizations make outreach efforts such as these, and all of them go a long way toward helping former servicemembers.