WASHINGTON, July 25, 2007
Veterans Care Panel Wants Red Tape Slashed
Presidential Commission Urges Broad Changes Making Treatment More Accessible For Wounded Soldiers
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Play CBS Video Video Reforming Health Care For Vets After serious problems in medical care for veterans were found, a presidential commission is recommending changes that would increase benefits and make access to care easier. Susan Roberts reports.
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Video Call For Veteran Care Overhaul A presidential commission has recommended the biggest overhaul of the medical care system for veterans in 50 years. But as Jim Axelrod reports, it is unclear if and when it will be implemented.
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President Bush with outgoing Veteran Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson, center, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, right, take part in a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, July 25, 2007, about the President's Commission on Care for America's Returning Wounded Warriors. (AP)
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President Bush created a panel March 6 to investigate problems in the treatment of wounded veterans following disclosures of roach-infested conditions and shoddy outpatient care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. (AP)
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Interactive Walter Reed Woes Revelations about care and conditions at army hospital prompt look into entire military health-care system.
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Photo Essay Walter Reed Inquiry Hearings held into scandal at Army's flagship hospital for treating wounded soldiers.
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Who's Who Walter Reed Shake-Up Revelations about substandard conditions at the Army's flagship veterans hospital costs some their jobs.
The commission's report recommends every injured vet get a treatment plan and a recovery coordinator, reports CBS News chief White House correspondent Jim Axelrod. It also mandates care for post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury; training and counseling for family members; and improvements in conditions at Walter Reed Hospital.
The nine-member panel, led by former Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., and Donna Shalala, health and human services secretary during the Clinton administration, also recommended stronger partnerships between the Pentagon and the private sector to boost treatment for traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder.
A 29-page draft report was presented to President Bush in the Oval Office, just after the Senate addressed some of the issues Wednesday morning by passing sweeping legislation to expand brain screenings, reduce red tape and boost military pay.
The commission formally approved the recommendations later in the day.
"Gone will be the days of injured soldiers telling the same information to doctors over and over again," said Shalala, who said the proposals seek to provide more customized, personalized care to injured Iraq war veterans.
She called the report a set of recommendations that could be implemented right away. About six of the 35 proposals require legislation, while the rest call for action primarily by the Pentagon and Department of Veterans Affairs.
Among the recommendations was an indirect rebuke of the VA — a call for Congress to "enable all veterans who have been deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq who need post-traumatic stress disorder care to receive it from the VA."
Only recently, the VA has taken steps to add mental health counselors and 24-hour suicide prevention services at all facilities, following high-profile incidents of suicides involving veterans. In the past, the VA had failed to use all the money for mental health that was allotted to it.
"The experiences of these young men and women have highlighted the need for fundamental changes in care management and the disability system," the report read.
"Making the significant improvements we recommend requires a sense of urgency and strong leadership," it said.Report: The President's Commission On Care For America's Returning Wounded Warriors
The report says significant improvements require "urgency," but when asked when those changes might be implemented, White House spokesman Tony Snow could not say, adds Axelrod.
The report does not seek to directly criticize or lay blame for shoddy outpatient treatment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center that brought a public outcry for change and creation of the commission. It cited a need to move forward, explaining there was no need to "reiterate" the findings of news reports which uncovered substandard care from the Defense Department and VA.
Among the proposals:
"We owe our wounded soldiers the very best care, and the very best benefits, and the very easiest to understand system," Bush said. "And so they took a very interesting approach. They took the perspective from the patient, as the patient had to work his way through the hospitals and bureaucracies. And they've come up with some very interesting and important suggestions."
Bush created the panel March 6 to investigate problems in the treatment of wounded veterans following disclosures of roach-infested conditions and shoddy outpatient care at Walter Reed.
The White House event followed the Senate's vote by unanimous consent on legislation that seeks to end inconsistencies in disability pay by providing for a special review of cases in which service members received low ratings of their level of disability. The aim is to determine if they were shortchanged.
The bill also would boost severance pay and provide $50 million for improved diagnosis of veterans with traumatic brain injury or post-traumatic stress disorder. The House was considering similar measures.
"It has been hurry up and wait for the results of this commission report and now the White House is telling our vets to wait even longer," said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. "That's why the Senate has moved ahead with our Wounded Warriors Act. The public is waiting, our veterans are waiting."
Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America, agreed.
"It is important for the American public to understand that the Walter Reed fiasco is not over," he said. "Everything is not fixed. The follow-through will be the most important part."
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The secrets of tennis legend 
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See all 43 CommentsTo sneer at the VA's shortcomings, and to characterize them as an "entitlement program", while, at the same time, failing to fund them adequately, is deplorable.
BTW, the VA is hiring two LCSW's (licensed clinic social workers) to help out with vets with PTSD at the VA Vet Center in San Jose. The funding is there; someone needs to apply. See usajobs.gov.
In 2005, a Republican Committee appeared, before The Congress saying :
The Veterans Claim, on the PTSD issue was Fraudulent.
They urged the Congress to Stop the Treatment, of the Veteran for the PTSD issue.
Also ! They urged the Congress to stop paying the Veteran.
Compensation for the veterans claim of having : PTSD.
By 1980, five (5) years after the Viet-Nam war had ended.
The combination of suicide and suicide induced accidents.
Committed by the Viet-Nam combatant, was at fifty two percent. (52%)
Which means : That within five (5) years, after the Viet-Nam war had ended.
Over half of the Viet-Nam combatants. Who had survived the war and returned home.
Were now dead - By their own hand.
The suicide rate of : The veterans of Iraqi, has already begun.
The issue of PTSD is being Scrutinized by the American Enterprise Institute.
They are saying : PTSD is a Liberal Hippie dream.
Lynne Cheney the Wife of : V.P. Cheney, Is on the Board of Directors.
(The American Enterprise Institute)
This is the Real Attitude, of the Republican Party,
The Bush - Cheney Administration's
Concern - Towards - The Combat Veterans of Today.
The Republican Party
The Bush - Cheney Administration's
Gift of Patriotism - and - Appreciation
To the Combat Veteran
Profound Display of : "Family Values"
Within their own actions - Lay - Their True Feelings.
Lastdance
"Impeach".
Does a president owe us an explanation? Huh? About a war?
What did we have before these creeps took office? Huh? If not peace? And prosperity? And then it was.. some god damned peckkkertrack, and all of a sudden all the sweaty upper lipped people came outta the woodwork and ruined everything.
Might I suggest that we not support the troops? Don't support the troops. Save them. Save them from our stupidity. Save them from false reality. Save them from the right wing lunatics...
And besides all that, propaganda ain't necessarily a good thing all the time. Especially nowadays when, one minute you're watching the down syndromed face of some politician crying "SUPPORT THE TROOPS!", and the next some movie star drinking fixation. Propaganda isn't always a good thing! And professional people shouldn't need that stuff. They do their jobs which are clear cut and simple, and then they go home. In fact, that was one of the things I liked about the military. "Clear cut"! Ya knew what ya had to do. It ain't like that once ya get out. And all this bullshyyt psychobabble media "support the troops" shyythead trophy stuff only contributes to the fallacy of false reality.
The neocon scum are squirming like worms on a fish hook. The chimp has no problems--the billionaires he's represented so well will make sure he gets a nice warm spot as a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute or something, so he can chop brush at his phony Potemkin village in Texass.
That's probably why our President's poll numbers are starting raise. In Rasmussen polls, which polling everyday, our President been polling 38-39% approval all week.
Come on 2008
Posted by Hwy71So
Son, you've got some serious anger problems. Though I would find it amusing to see you put your money where your mouth is. Anyway, take some aspirin and call Michael in the morning.
Do you:
A. Support the continuing fighting, which includes grossly extended tours of duty and overly fatigued military soldiers, in an area of the country that has never seen complete agreement, cooperation, peace, love, harmony, and all that stuff.... AND NEVER WILL SEE ANY OF THAT NO MATTER WHAT KIND OF "DEMOCRACY" EXISTS! (if any)
....OR....
B. Do you support forcing this administration to change its tactics in the battlefield (not neccessarily meaning retreat), as well as its tactics at home in helping our soldiers recover from months if not years of continued fighting in a foreign land.
As many of you may know already, "supporting our troops" is defined by how you support their survival and general well being before, during, and after the war. Simply having them fight a war and then treating them like a used tampon by throwing them in the trash after they return home...
...IS NOT SUPPORTING OUR TROOPS.
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