http://www.veteransforamerica.org/ArticleID/8453
Oct 15, 2006
Veterans For America's Paul Sullivan on CNN
CNN
THIS WEEK AT WAR: Week's War News Recounted
Aired October 14, 2006 - 19:00 ET
CNN’s JOHN ROBERTS:
A report out this week says one-third of the 600,000 recent war
veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are looking to the V.A.
for healthcare.
Are we prepared to take care of those that served?
That's next.
ROBERTS:
America's newest veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are
putting heavy demands on the V.A. system.
With the army chief prepared to keep troops in Iraq through 2010, is
the United States prepared to meet their needs and are taxpayers
willing to foot the bill for what experts say could be hundreds of
thousands of disability claims?
Joining us to help illuminate the problem is Paul Sullivan, he's the
director of programs with Veterans for America.
On Thursday, CNN's Gupta looked at the rising cost of meeting
veterans' needs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over):
Statistics from the Veterans' Administration show one of every three
military personnel returning from Afghanistan and Iraq is injured.
Maybe it's a shot in the head.
Maybe it's a recurring nightmare, but each one needs care.
And care is expensive.
Of the nearly 600,000 war vets recently discharged from the service,
about a third of them have sought care from a Veterans' Administration
healthcare system.
In addition to their healthcare costs about 100,000 of those
servicemen and women are also receiving disability compensation for
their injuries.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS:
Paul Sullivan, there's a report that suggests that one in five
veterans who are coming back from either Iraq or Afghanistan are in
some way disabled and that over the course of the war and who knows
how long that is going to last, those numbers, according to
projections are going to skyrocket.
How big could they get?
PAUL SULLIVAN, VETERANS FOR AMERICA:
The numbers could get very large.
The Department of Veterans' Affairs is facing a crisis.
Right now if the trend continues, it's ominous.
And about 400,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans could end up
filing disability claims.
ROBERTS:
What kind of strain is that going to put on the V.A. system and on
taxpayers?
SULLIVAN:
Well, right now V.A., as I said, is in a crisis, they have Vietnam
veterans coming in still filing claims from the Vietnam War, Gulf War
veterans still coming in and filing claims for the Gulf War and now we
have returning Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans piling in to the tune
of hundreds of thousands.
And this could mean potentially anywhere from between 400,000
disability claims and maybe up to 700,000 Iraq and Afghan War veterans
seeking healthcare.
ROBERTS:
Is there any kind of way to project the long term costs?
SULLIVAN:
Well, there have been some studies that have come out on the cost but
right now it would be fair to say it would be billions of dollars per
year for 30 or 40 years for the whole life of the veteran when he gets
back.
ROBERTS:
And you mentioned Vietnam.
Using Vietnam as a model, a lot of the people who came back, a lot of
the soldiers and marines who came back from Vietnam did not claim
disability immediately, but over the course of years as problems
developed, they started adding themselves to the rolls.
Do we expect to see that in Iraq and Afghanistan?
SULLIVAN:
Yes, we can.
And that is going to further compound the problem.
We're going to have long-term medical issues such as post-traumatic
stress disorder.
It doesn't develop in a few days, it develops over a number of years.
And then we might have toxic exposures such as depleted uranium and
Lariam pills that may lead to long-term health problems.
But here's what all this means.
Right now V.A. has a window of opportunity.
They have no plan to address this huge tidal wave of veterans coming
back and Congress and the Department of Veterans affairs need to act
now.
Develop a plan, collect some data.
Find out how much this is going to cost the taxpayers, but more
importantly, what can be done now to help the veterans with care now,
so it's not more expensive later.
ROBERTS:
You mentioned Lariam, which we should point out is a drug to prevent
mosquito-born diseases particularly malaria, I remember I took it once
and the effects can sometimes be unpleasant.
We reached out to the Veterans' Affairs Department to get a statement
from all of them and here's what their response was.
They said, "The data in this study includes service members who filed
for disability compensation based upon medical problems that arose
before they went to Iraq or Afghanistan, it also includes veterans
that filed after service in Iraq or Afghanistan for injuries or
illnesses that were unrelated to their service there."
It still doesn't change the overall numbers, but as a political
statement you can say don't blame Iraq and Afghanistan, but it is not
going to change the expense, is it?
SULLIVAN:
The bottom line is Iraq and Afghanistan are going to be very expensive
for the Department of Veterans' Affairs, and billions of dollars a
year in taxpayer money spent for healthcare and disability checks.
What's needed is a plan to find out how much money is going to be
needed for V.A. Last year, V.A. was short $3 billion because of poor
accounting methods and here we have the Department of Veterans'
Affairs trying to give a weak statement.
Where's the plan?
ROBERTS:
Right.
SULLIVAN:
The veterans want to know when they come home, John, if they walk into
a V.A. hospital, can I see a doctor right away?
When I need disability benefits, because I can't find a job and I'm
disabled, will I get that check?
And right now, the Department of Veterans' Affairs has no plan to beef
up the number of doctors, no plan to beef up the numbers of claims
processors to make sure that those veterans get the benefits they need
and they earned from fighting on the front lines.
ROBERTS:
Obviously a story that is going to go on and one that we'll continue
watching.
Paul Sullivan, thanks for being with us.
Appreciate it.
SULLIVAN:
Thank you.
______________________________________________________
Harry
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