Editorials, Opinion Pieces Address Veterans’ Health Care

Summaries of several editorials and opinion pieces that address issues related to health care for veterans appear below.

Editorials

• Charlotte Observer: "Thousands of veterans are going without adequate health care," and "too many political leaders have been content to let these and other veterans languish," an Observer editorial states. According to the editorial, a "yearlong probe of inadequate health care and benefits for veterans" conducted by the Observer has "exposed the lackadaisical way the Department of Veterans Affairs has addressed these issues." The investigation "shows that veterans' medical facilities are woefully unprepared to care for the numbers and kinds of injuries VA facilities are getting," the editorial states, adding, "We can truly honor veterans by demanding that the president and lawmakers quickly fix the daunting health and housing problems so many veterans face" (Charlotte Observer, 11/11).
  
  
• Long Island Newsday: "This Veterans Day, there are a few signs of hope, but there are plenty of reasons for outrage," a Newsday editorial states. According to the editorial, the Senate should "overwhelmingly" pass a bill that would authorize $75 million over five years to "improve outreach to veterans." The editorial concludes, "To really support the troops, write the president and Congress to get this and other lapses in care fixed. Veterans deserve a better reward for their service than illness and homelessness" (Long Island Newsday, 11/11).
  
  
• New York Times: Veterans "have been left to fend for themselves with little help from the government," a Times editorial states. According to the editorial, the "biggest stain this year was the scandalous neglect of outpatients at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and a sluggish response to the needs of wounded soldiers at veterans clinics and hospitals" that resulted from the "Bush administration's failure to plan for a long war with mounting casualties and over-long tours of duty." The editorial states, "To their credit, Congress and the administration have poured billions of added dollars into veterans' programs and streamlined procedures in a scramble to catch up with the need." In addition, the editorial states, "The larger public has not faced a draft, paid higher taxes or been asked to make any other sacrifice. The least a grateful nation should do is support the troops upon their return" (New York Times, 11/12).
  
  
• Philadelphia Inquirer: "Too many" veterans are "fighting harder to survive now than when they were in the military," an Inquirer editorial states. According to the editorial, a recent Harvard Medical School study found that about 1.8 million veterans and 3.8 million of their family members lack health insurance. "Many of the uninsured veterans are among the working poor" and cannot afford private health insurance, but they "aren't poor enough to qualify for VA care," the editorial states. The editorial concludes, "To truly celebrate Veterans Day, we must do more to support veterans throughout the year" (Philadelphia Inquirer, 11/12).
  
  
• San Jose Mercury News: "On this holiday, resolve to urge your senators, U.S. representative and president to rescue veterans from the ranks of the uninsured, where they languish in numbers that should be a national embarrassment," a Mercury News editorial states. The editorial states that, when veterans "get sick, they have to go to a hospital emergency room if they can't afford to see a doctor," adding that, when "they are admitted to the hospital, they're stuck with the bill." According to the editorial, "Every veteran should qualify for Veterans Affairs care if he or she doesn't have private insurance," and taxpayers "should be willing to foot that bill" (San Jose Mercury News, 11/12).
  
  
• South Florida Sun-Sentinel: "The country owes its veterans adequate care once their service has ended," but "scandals at military hospitals, inadequate funding of veterans' health and other benefits ... demonstrates that we as a country haven't delivered on that debt," according to a Sun-Sentinel editorial. "Let's take a moment and call our representatives and senators in Congress and tell them to support efforts to make good on the debt we owe our vets," the editorial states, adding, "Do it. America's vets deserve that much" (South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 11/11).
  
  
• USA Today: "Equipping veterans to navigate civilian life, often with severe mental and physical illnesses, has to be a national priority," but VA "has not coped well with the deluge" of injured veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a USA Today editorial states. According to the editorial, "President Bush and Congress need to demonstrate that this is a priority and that they are willing to ask taxpayers to make small sacrifices to honor the veterans' greater ones." Both "Bush and Congress agree that veterans' care needs a spending boost," but they both are "holding it hostage to more divisive issues," the editorial states. The editorial concludes, "The nation's veterans should not end up victimized by the society for which they fought. Doing right by them requires more than lip service and holiday parades" (USA Today, 11/12).

Opinion Pieces

• Teresa Heinz/Jeffrey Lewis, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Veterans "ending long years of honorable service or coming home from foreign wars are finding themselves stuck in an overwhelming and indifferent medical system," Heinz, chair of the Heinz Family Philanthropies, and Lewis, president of the foundation, write in a Post-Gazette opinion piece. "What happened to the golden rule for our veterans? What happened to 'You serve and defend your country, and your country will serve and care for you,'" the authors write. They add, "By creating relationships between veterans," VA and the federally qualified community health centers funded by HHS, "our ability to care for our veterans from Iraq, Afghanistan or any era could be expanded dramatically -- almost overnight." In addition, the authors write, "Even as Washington debates when and how to bring our servicemembers back from Iraq, there should be no debate that every veteran deserves timely, accessible, high-quality health care when he or she comes home" (Heinz/Lewis, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 11/11).
  
  
• Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), Asbury Park Press: "For years, veterans have complained about inadequate care, long waits for service and insufficient benefits," and "[t]hose problems have only worsened over the last five years," highlighted earlier this year by the problems with the conditions at Walter Reed, Pallone writes in a Park Press opinion piece. In response, Congress over the last 10 months "has made meeting the needs of our veterans and our military personnel a top priority" with the passage of several bills that seek to improve health care for veterans, Pallone writes. He concludes, "This Veterans Day, as we honor the men and women who served in wars past and present, it is important that we continue to recommit ourselves to ensuring this nation keeps its promise to meet the needs of all our veterans" (Pallone, Asbury Park Press, 11/11).