A VA medical center in Reno, Nev., has been issuing patients addictive painkillers at one of the highest rates out of all the VA hospitals in the nation, according to a recent multimedia report from The Center for Investigative Reporting. The long-form piece looks at the rise in drug use among veterans across the U.S. since 2001.
The Reno Gazette-Journal reported about the investigation, stating that CIR found doctors at the medical center were prescribing 130.9 painkillers containing opiates per 1,000 patients. This represents a 230 percent increase in opiate use at the Reno medical center. According to the news source, the dramatic spike makes the Reno facility the eighth-highest ranking VA hospital in the nation for prescribing addictive painkillers.
However, the hospital asserted that there was no misconduct when treating patients or prescribing the medication, and that the staff strives to work in the best interest of the veterans.
"The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has worked aggressively to promote the safe and effective use of opioid therapy for veterans," the hospital said in a statement. "All VA clinicians discuss with patients the potential benefits of a medication with its possible side-effects, and they are provided the latitude to deliver treatment that is in the best interest of the veteran."
According to the CIR report, the VA has continued to acknowledge the painkiller epidemic among its ranks, even implementing a pain management strategy in 2009 for improving its standard of medical care.
A 94-year-old World War II veteran and POW labor camp survivor was honored with several medals of distinction this week at a ceremony at Tulsa International Airport, The Associated Press reported.
According to the news source, Phillip Coon, a resident of Sapulpa, Okla., served in the Army as an infantry machine gunner. During the war, he was stationed in the Pacific, fighting in the Philippines and surviving the infamous Bataan Death March. Coon was sent to a POW camp in Kosaka, Japan, and recently visited the site to strengthen understanding among Japanese and U.S. citizens, the news outlet reported.
"I've been blessed to come this far in life," Coon said during the ceremony. "I thank the Lord for watching over me."
Coon received the Prisoner of War Medal, the Combat Infantryman Badge and a Bronze Star for his service. According to the news source, Coon was long overdue for these honors, and it remains uncertain why he had not received them earlier. David Rule, a Tulsa-based veteran who has helped more than 150 veterans receive their service distinctions, told the news outlet that he helped Coon secure his deserved honors.
The Medals of America states that any servicemember that was captured and held prisoner while on active duty after 1917 is eligible to receive the Prisoner of War Medal.
A program dedicated to providing housing for homeless veterans is now searching for shelter of its own after a city council denied the program a moving permit, The Daily Press reported.
Formerly housed on property owned by the Hampton VA. , the Salvation Army of the Virginia Peninsula's Veterans Transitional Housing Program was forced to relocate after the VA building was demolished due to inhabitable conditions. According to the news source, program officials were looking to settle in an extended-stay hotel. However, a law passed by the city forbids hotel stays that are longer than 30 days, and the Salvation Army program tends to house veterans for up to six months, according to its website.
Transitional housing is used as an "in-between" residence for veterans who are struggling to secure permanent housing or employment, states the organization's website. Transitional housing centers are located in nearly every state and are federally funded.
The Salvation Army Transitional Housing Program was Virginia's largest such resource for former servicemembers. Now that the program remains in suspension, many are worried what will happen to the former servicemembers who are currently without permanent shelter.
"If the Salvation Army can't become operational in the very near future, the program will cease to exist," program director David Wall told new news outlet.
When the health insurance marketplace under the Affordable Care Act opened Oct. 1, veterans were introduced to a slew of new insurance options.
Writing in a Op-Ed for Dallas Weekly, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson outlined the ways in which the health care overhaul will provide veterans with unprecedented benefits. Although veterans who are currently covered under the VA medical plans do not have to re-enroll in a new health insurance plan, Johnson wrote that the Affordable Care Act offers veterans many health care alternatives.
"Veterans may also choose to enroll in Marketplace options provided by the Affordable Care Act that could lower the cost of their health insurance," Johnson wrote. "Uninsured spouses of veterans who do not have access to VA benefits can also enter the Marketplace to access quality health insurance with eligibility for financial assistance."
According to Johnson, 1.3 million non-elderly veterans are currently uninsured. Veterans who are uninsured and qualify for Medicaid can receive insurance through the state's Medicaid expansion, which is a new provision under the Affordable Care Act, Johnson stated.
Veterans who are currently uninsured can apply for either VA insurance benefits or marketplace health insurance at any time, according to the VA website.
Although the 16-day government shutdown is over, veterans might face lingering obstacles when filing their disability claims. According to CNN, the shutdown interrupted the processing of the disability claims backlog, which has been accumulating at the Department of Veterans Affairs for several years.
Earlier this year, the VA devised a plan to eliminate the backlog by 2015 through mandating overtime processing, according to the agency's website. The plan applies to claims that have been sitting unanswered for more than 125 days – the VA's average response waiting period.
While the VA's claims processors were not furloughed during the government shutdown, the overtime processing was canceled due to the lack of federal funds, according to the news outlet. Now, veterans might once again face a longer wait.
The news source reported that VA Secretary Eric Shinseki testified during an October congressional hearing with the Committee House Committee on Veterans Affairs that the shutdown will greatly affect the rate of claims processing and increase the backlog.
"We are no longer making the significant gains we have made in recent months toward eliminating the backlog in claims," Shinseki said during the hearing.
According to the VA's website, the agency has processed a record-high 1 million disability claims in the last three years, and nearly 4 million veterans rely on the VA for disability benefits.
If the federal shutdown is not resolved by the end of the month, wounded veterans might not receive their benefits come Nov. 1, according to NBC News. These benefits include compensation checks rewarded to more than 5 million former servicemembers, many of whom were wounded in combat.
Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki told the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, a congressional oversight committee, during a hearing Oct. 9 that the compensation checks were in danger, the news source reported. Shinseki added that the ongoing shutdown might jeopardize more than 400,000 disabled veterans and roughly 360,000 surviving military spouses and their children, leaving them without the payments they need to live. The 500,000 veterans going to college on the G.I. Bill will also have their tuition assistance frozen.
"I don't want to be alarmist, but I want to speak for the veterans who are looking in on this [hearing]," Shinseki said during his testimony. "Not only do we have a large number of beneficiaries that are looking for those checks, I have veterans myself that I employ – a third, over 100,000 veterans. A number of them are going to be subject to furlough."
However, Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., question the VA's handling of the federal shutdown during the hearing, citing the spending of $1 million on TV ads to promote the agency and several discrepancies in the VA's announcements of its proposed contingency plans, according to the news outlet.
The University of Southern California's Sol Price School of Public Policy held a conference this week to highlight the pertinent issues affecting servicemembers who are returning from war and attempting to enter into the workforce. According to the Daily Trojan, veteran homelessness, high unemployment rates and were among the topics discussed.
In his opening speech, Former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and current USC professor Gen. David Petraeus emphasized that veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan need the nation's support, the news source reported.
"The post-9/11 veterans have come to be deservedly recognized as the new greatest generation," Petraeus said. "While our country continues to provide support for our veterans and their families, we can and we should do more, and I know that those here share that conviction."
President and co-founder of Team Rubicon Jacob Wood, who is also a former Marine, was a keynote speaker at the event, along with Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. Garcetti focused on Angeleno veterans and how the city's VA office is not doing enough to assist them with their benefits. The mayor told the audience that veterans in Los Angeles wait an average 377 days for a response from the VA office.
He also suggested that USC students can become more involved in aiding veterans by reaching out through hotlines and other resources.
As the federal shutdown continues, thousands of veterans might find it harder to gain their promised military benefits as Department of Veterans Affairs offices throughout the nation begin to falter.
More furloughs on the horizon
Nearly 7,000 of the 21,000 Veterans Business Administration employees have been furloughed this week, leading to the closure of regional VA offices, the Army Times reported.
Congress passed a last-minute bill Sept. 30 that ensured active-duty troops and civilian employees of the Department of Defense received their paychecks during the government shutdown. A liberal reading of the law by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel led to the recall of nearly 350,000 furloughed Pentagon workers. Unfortunately, there was no measure to spare the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is currently bracing for the worst as it closes its doors to veterans this week.
According to the news source, the federal furloughs mean that VA offices around the nation will be unable to receive walk-ins or take phone calls from veterans asking for status updates on their benefits, including veterans life insurance, pension payments and disability claims. However, most toll-free phone services – except for the G.I. Bill Center – will remain open.
While a majority of Veterans Business Administration workers are still employed, the suspension of the regional VA offices might have a large impact on former servicemembers, since most veterans rely on their local offices for assistance.
Increase in backlogs
The ongoing federal furloughs have also hindered the progress of the disability claims backlog, which was decreasing before the shutdown began due to mandatory overtime. According to the news source, the VA currently has 725,165 pending benefits claims. More than 400,000 of those claims have extended past the 125-day processing goal set by the VA.
Beginning last May, the VA ordered mandatory overtime for claims processors in 56 regional offices throughout the nation in order to reduce the disability claims backlog and completely eliminate it by 2015, according to a statement released by the agency.
VA officials said that it has reduced the backlog by 30 percent, processing roughly 100,000 disability claims per month. However, the progress might be reversed due to the cancelling of the overtime during the federal shutdown.
It's only been two days since the government shutdown began, but veterans might already be feeling the strain of the federal closure. According to The Washington Post, veterans benefits are currently in danger – especially if the shutdown continues past October.
The Department of Veterans Affairs will run out of funds for disability checks, pensions and insurance for veterans by the end of the month, the news source reported. Losing these benefits might heavily impact wounded servicemembers who rely on VA paychecks to live.
"Congress and the White House, they're playing chicken with people's lives," Chief Policy Officer for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America Tom Tarantino told the news source. "That's where this becomes scary."
Disability claims, which have been on backlog for the last year, are also at risk. According to the news outlet, the VA released a statement Oct. 1 warning that the shutdown will negate its recent progress on the disability claims backlog. Although the VA is keeping claims processors on staff during the shutdown, the agency was forced to suspend its overtime processors – an initiative that began in May and reduced the backlog by 30 percent.
An official from the VA predicts that the backlog will increase due to the shutdown, the news source reported. The Board of Veterans Appeals can no longer hear disability appeals cases, which might lead to a delay of thousands of appeals, according to Washington Post political reporter Steve Vogel.
A group of nearly 100 veterans did not let the government shutdown stop them from crossing the barricade of the closed World War II memorial in Washington, D.C., Tuesday Oct. 1.
According to ABC News, 92 members of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Honor Flight Veterans, an organization that provides the state's WWII veterans with free trips to the nation's capital, entered the iconic memorial just hours after the shutdown, crossing a make-shift barrier that blocked the site from visitors. The memorial is currently closed to due to the shutdown.
Details of how the veterans, some of whom in wheelchairs or holding onto walkers, were able to enter the barricaded memorial remain vague. The veterans arrived at Reagan National Airport at 10 a.m. and took a charter bus to the landmark, where they were initially going to see a bagpipe procession and wreath-laying ceremony, the news source reported. Videos show the veterans taking over the memorial without escorts, while Reps. Steve King, R-Iowa, and Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., said in interviews that the gates were opened for the group.
The site was re-closed after the veterans left, and will remain closed until the government shutdown is resolved, according to the news outlet.
Many members of Congress, including Rep. Steven Palazzo, R-Miss., tweeted in support of the veterans Tuesday afternoon, asking the federal government to keep the memorials open during the shutdown.