A disabled Texas Marine's fight for care amid VA shake-up
Marine veteran James Carey's life changed forever 15 years ago when a training exercise at Camp Pendleton left him with a traumatic brain injury. Now 38, Carey is blind, unable to use his body, and suffers from dementia.
For years, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs provided Carey with a homecare worker around the clock. But in January, the VA abruptly cut his homecare hours from 168 a week to 16, citing a clerical error. The 24/7 care he had been receiving was deemed a mistake.
"I think that that's pretty hurtful because honestly, they're directly affecting my caregivers I rely on so much," James Carey said.
The disabled veteran's mother, Kim Carey, has been his primary caregiver, but she said she can't do it all on her own.
"Most of the time, it takes two people. And if I don't get someone else to help me, I'm doing all of it around the clock," she said.
The VA denied James Carey's appeal, suggesting that he could go to a VA medical foster home or a VA nursing home if he needed more hours of care.
"That is such an insult to me," an emotional Kim Carey said. "I promised my son that I would take care of him the rest of his life and I am not going to put him in a home."
While the VA told the CBS News Texas I-Team that James Carey's situation is unique and is not part of any larger plan to reduce expenses, it comes amid a major shake-up at the department. VA Secretary Doug Collins announced plans last month to make the VA more efficient with the help of Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency. Part of this plan includes cutting 83,000 VA jobs, more than 15% of the agency's staffing.
"The federal government does not exist to employ people; it exists to serve people. At the VA, we are focused on serving veterans better than ever before," Collins said in a video on March 5.
Veteran advocate Brandon Friedman, who has been fighting for veterans for nearly 20 years, finds the proposed cuts troubling.
"While you can say that all of those 83,000 cuts aren't coming from doctors and nurses, they're coming from other people. Well, the doctors and nurses need those people to do their jobs and to do their jobs efficiently," Friedman, who works with the organization VoteVets.org, explains.
Friedman believes that stories like James Carey's erode confidence in the VA's ability to operate effectively.
"This guy sacrificed the better part of his life for this country. And you're going to quibble over some paltry dollar amounts or hours that he's being taken care of, like - just take care of the guy," he said.
Congressman Pat Fallon, whose office is working with the VA to find a solution for Carey's situation, stated, "American veterans and their families should not have to be subject to bureaucratic incompetence and arbitrarily enforced rulings. We need accountability from the VA, particularly when it comes to fulfilling its obligation to serve disabled veterans."
In the meantime, the Carey family is handling the sudden change in homecare hours by chipping in. James Carey's siblings have taken extended leave from work to help, and his nephew, who is in high school, comes over to assist. However, they acknowledge that this is not a sustainable long-term solution.
"This is our loved one. And we have to accept the fact that he is in this condition in the first place. Why do we have to keep paying that price every day?" a frustrated Kim Carey asks. "Why do we have to beg the VA to give him the benefits he earned?"
