|
GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS
BY JOHN MITERKO,
CHAIR, VVA GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS COMMITTEE, WITH VVA GOVERNMENT
AFFAIRS STAFF
The lead sponsor of the Fair Mental Health Evaluation for
Returning Veterans Act, freshman Rep. Phil Hare (D-Ill.),
praised the inclusion of Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.)
language limiting “personality disorder” discharges
in the Defense Authorization Act conference report. By the
time you read this, this bill is expected to have been signed
into law.
“Thousands of psychologically wounded combat
veterans are being denied benefits through a process that
is downright scandalous,” Hare charged.
More than 22,000 servicemen and women from all branches of
the military, although most notably the Army, have been discharged
with so-called personality disorders since 2001. It seems
obvious that this is yet another way to screw veterans: Declare
that they are afflicted with a pre-existing personality disorder,
bribe them with a few thousand dollars, and muster them out
of the service. It’s only later that these veterans
realize that they’ve made a pact with the devil.
What
the DoD has never bothered to explain is this: If all these
men and women have pre-existing personality disorders, why
were they permitted to enlist in the first place? Or, if
these pre-existing conditions only become apparent during
their military service, let them be discharged before they
have 180 days of active service.
The military’s actions
make these veterans ineligible to receive service-connected
treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and other health
claims despite their combat service records. In addition,
as Hare pointed out, many are required to pay back their
re-enlistment bonuses, with interest, to the federal government.
Is
this any way to treat our troops?
"When it comes to supporting the troops,” Hare
said, “the Pentagon should not balance its budget on
the backs of the men and women we put in harm’s way.”
Obama’s
language would require the Secretary of Defense to report
to the congressional defense committees by April on all cases
of personality disorder discharges of servicemen and women
who served in Iraq or Afghanistan since October 2001. Additionally,
the provision would prohibit such discharges until such time
as the Secretary submits that report, unless a clinical review
is first conducted in the Office of the Surgeon General of
the military department concerned.
Hare’s bill, H.R.
3167, would place a temporary moratorium on personality disorder
discharges until a comprehensive review of DoD mental health
policies is conducted by an independent review board.
“We
need to put a stop to this until some entity independent
of the Bush administration can justify the merits of these
discharges,” Hare said.
PILOTING THE FRIENDLY SKIES
In what for too long was a Kafkaesque standoff, American
pilots were not permitted to fly aircraft for American carriers
once they hit age 60. This rule came as a shock to long-time
pilots, many of whom are veterans of the Vietnam War. Since
the rule went into effect, according to our information,
at least two thousand pilots have lost their jobs—and
some have taken their lives.
After a lot of behind-the-scenes
maneuvering, Congress and the President came to the rescue,
although they didn’t
rescue all pilots. On December 11, the House passed H.R.
4343, the nicely named Fair Treatment for Experienced Pilots
Act. The next day, the Senate cleared the bill for the White
House. And on December 14, President Bush signed the bill
into law.
There is one problem—one very significant
problem—with
this law: It is not retroactive. This means that, according
to our information, more than two thousand pilots who turned
age 60 between November 2006 and December 14, 2007, are left
out in the cold. The majority of them are Vietnam veterans.
They can go to work for other airlines, but they lose seniority.
With seniority, a pilot gets more pay, better routes, and
larger, more modern aircraft. In some cases, pensions would
be jeopardized if pilots returned to work.
Politics may be
the art of compromise, but the compromise that had to be
agreed to in order to pass a much-needed bill singles out
those pilots who had the unfortunate luck to be born between
November 1946 and December 14, 1947, and punishes them for
daring to question the administration and Rep. James Oberstar
(D-Wisc.). We intend to work with our friends in Congress
to right this wrong.
OMB’S SUDDEN CONCERN FOR VETERANS
According to the Washington Post, the federal Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) in November advised federal agencies to
discontinue the “Outstanding Scholar Program” and “the
Bilingual/Bicultural Program,” two “programs
created decades ago to replace a Civil Service exam that
was deemed biased against minorities.”
The Post noted
that the programs “lost out in a legal
clash over the government’s obligation to show a preference
to military veterans when filling jobs.” As a “general
practice, veterans are supposed to have an edge for federal
jobs if they meet the minimum qualifications for a position.
But the two special hiring programs do not evaluate and rate
applicants in ways that take the veterans’ preference
into account, officials said.”
In 2005, two veterans,
David Dean and Matthew S. Olson, filed suits contending they
were wrongfully passed over for jobs and non-veterans were
hired instead through the Outstanding Scholar program. They
won the suit, hence OMB’s action.
VVA notes that the
very best readjustment program for returning veterans is
a decent job. So why is this administration, and all of the
heads of federal agencies, not strictly enforcing veterans’ preference,
and pushing managers and human resource staff to use the
special hiring authority for veterans rated by the VA at
30 percent disabled or higher? Moreover, why is Congress
not strengthening veterans’ preference
laws and requiring veterans’ preference in the Senior
Executive Service, from which veterans are consistently excluded?
And
why is the OMB not getting its own house in order by hiring
more veterans? Currently, out of 978 employees, there are
fewer that ten veterans working for OMB, and not one disabled
veteran. Can anyone believe such a record of exclusion just
happened?
Clearly OMB is not enforcing veterans’ preference
in its own hiring and has not for a very long time—over
several presidential administrations. It is clear that such
a sorry record could only be a deliberate pattern and practice
to exclude veterans, if not outright discrimination against
veterans, particularly disabled veterans.
It is time to get
the federal and congressional houses in order when it comes
to hiring veterans, especially disabled veterans.
SUITABLE
CARE
Sen. Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii), chair of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs
Committee, offered both praise and reasoned caution about
some of the recommendations of the Dole-Shalala commission
on veterans’ disabilities and the need for prompt action
on its recommendations.
“Most of the suggestions are
worthy and, indeed, much work is underway on some of the
points. There are, however, some conclusions about which
I have serious concerns,” the
Senator wrote. For the most part, these suggestions focus
on fostering collaboration between the VA and DoD to meet
the needs of service-disabled veterans.
“The commission
recommended a restructuring of the Defense Department and
VA disability systems. This recommendation has two key components
that would fundamentally alter the manner in which the Pentagon
and the VA administer those systems,” Akaka wrote.
“The
first component—merging the departments’ existing
systems—has strong appeal. If enough obstacles can
be overcome, it is possible that, for some subset of those
leaving the military it may prove feasible to have the two
systems function collaboratively, with one physical exam
and one disability rating for those who leave the service
for medical reasons.” Indeed, as of early December,
the VA was conducting these exams.
However, Akaka contends, “the
second component, that the VA’s compensation system
should be fundamentally restructured, is far more problematic.
The legislation that the White House drafted to carry out
this recommendation would have Congress cede responsibility
for the proposed retooling of the VA’s compensation
system to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and it would
require the secretary to accomplish this monumental task
in just a few months.”
Akaka contrasted this recommendation
with the findings of the congressionally mandated Veterans’ Disability
Benefits Commission. Over its two-and-one-half-year existence,
the VDBC focused exclusively on the complex and often inefficient
disability structure that applies to all servicemembers and
veterans in what was “the most extensive overview of
the benefits provided to this nation’s disabled veterans
in more than half a century.”
The Veterans’ Disability
Benefits Commission, in its report issued October 3, made
113 recommendations designed to improve and update the VA’s
disability compensation program. These recommendations address
the appropriateness and purpose of benefits, benefit levels
and payment rates, and the processes used to determine eligibility.
Many
significant proposals among the VDBC’s 113 recommendations
designed to improve and update the VA’s disability
compensation program were not contemplated by the Dole-Shalala
commission and warrant review before any action is taken
on the Dole-Shalala recommendations relating to the overall
disability benefits system.
“I do not believe,” the
junior senator from Hawaii said, “that the timeline
in the President’s legislation
is remotely realistic.”
He voiced concern that the Dole-Shalala
recommendations “would
apply only to those who entered service during the current
conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and would exclude veterans
from earlier generations. Some have suggested that this recommendation
would pit veterans of these recent conflicts against those
from different eras. Such an outcome would be unacceptable.
This nation must never forget the sacrifices made by those
who served on the beaches of Normandy, at the Chosin Reservoir,
in the jungles of Vietnam, and on the sands of Kuwait. Congress
should focus on creating a system that is equitable for all
of our veterans—young and old.”
VA TAKES ACTION
What sparked Sen. Akaka’s tentativeness over Dole-Shalala?
The VA. This department, which is hardly famous for quick
decision-making, seemingly rushed to judgment on Dole-Shalala,
and moved quickly to solicit outside bids to be able to award
one contract to conduct two “important technical studies” that
will help decisions to be made regarding the updating of
the whole military disability system.
One of the studies will
focus on the creation of a schedule for rating disabilities
based on current concepts of medicine and disability, taking
into account loss of quality of life and loss of earnings
resulting from specific injuries or combination of injuries.
The
study will make recommendations concerning:
- The appropriate
injuries or combination of injuries to include in the schedule
- The
appropriate level of compensation for loss of quality of
life
- The appropriate standard or standards for determining
whether an injury or combination of injuries has caused
a loss in a veteran’s quality of life
- The appropriate
level of compensation for loss of earnings
- The appropriate
standard or standards for determining whether an injury
or combination of injuries has caused a veteran loss of
earnings.
The
second study will attempt to determine the appropriate level
and duration of transition payments that should be paid to
all eligible veterans who are participating in a rehabilitation
program.
Meanwhile, both the VA and DoD now have what officials
describe as a “landmark agreement” to conduct
a pilot study of a single physical examination to be used
by both departments. For DoD, the exam would be used to determine
the medical fitness of an injured troop, and for VA it would
determine the level of compensation. Given the poor track
record of the medical boards in recent years, particularly
in the Army, VVA will take a wait and see posture on this
pilot until they can show results that are fair and equitable
to separating service personnel.
EXTRAVAGANT CARE FOR EX-DoD
HONCHO
Mark Benjamin is a reporter who a few years ago broke several
stories about sordid conditions troops faced waiting to be
deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq. Writing for the online newsmagazine,
Salon on December 4, he noted how a former Pentagon official
in the Bush administration helped win an $800 million DoD
contract for his healthcare firm.
“In April 2007, William
Winkenwerder, Jr., retired from his position as assistant
secretary for health affairs at the Department of Defense,
where he had been in charge of all military health care” Benjamin
wrote. “On
June 1, he went to work for a Wisconsin-based private contractor
named Logistics Health, Inc., which hired him to serve on
its board of directors and ‘advise and counsel LHI
on business development,’ according to a company press
release. It was a hire that seems to have paid quick dividends.
“On
June 13, 2007, the Department of Defense began accepting
bids for a contract to give soldiers medical and dental exams
before they head off to war. Logistics Health was among the
companies bidding on the contract, which was worth hundreds
of millions of dollars over four years.”
Before he left
DOD, in addition to running military healthcare, Winkenwerder
also had been in charge of the office that wrote the contract.
Even though it was not low bidder—at
least one other company bid $100 million less, Benjamin discovered—Logistics
Health won the contract.
As Benjamin continued: “The contract has been ‘stayed,’ or
put on hold, while the Government Accountability Office,
the investigative arm of Congress, evaluates those complaints.
“Military
healthcare,” Benjamin concluded, “is
a lucrative wartime bazaar for private contractors that is
largely free of oversight—and of Halliburton or Blackwater-size
headlines.”
Winkenwerder never will be revered as one
of the bright boys. When the Washington Post earlier this
year broke the scandal at Walter Reed, Winkenwerder went
on record as being “completely” surprised.
Because he was responsible for military healthcare, the buck
should have stopped at his desk.
It is worth noting that in
the weeks leading up to the invasion of Iraq, VVA and a representative
of the organization that has become Veterans of Modern Warfare
met with then Assistant Secretary of Defense Winkenwerder
to urge DoD to require a much more complete pre-deployment
and post-deployment physical that included a clinical encounter
with a mental health professional, and taking and preserving
blood serum, blood platelets, and tissue samples.
We also
urged Winkenwerder to prepare a way in which war veterans
could seek assistance for acute stress problems and post-traumatic
stress disorder upon their return that would not effectively
end their military career. He refused on both counts, as
he said such exams and lifting the stigma for PTSD would
not be “appropriate” and would
not be contemplated or considered at that time. Apparently
Winkenwerder has reconsidered his earlier stands on these
issues, as evidenced by his current employer seeking these
contracts.
One has to wonder: Why do people who are both incompetent
and obtuse manage to get promotions and bonuses while the
real troops—grunts and corpsmen and nurses—toil
for little recognition or pay while living every day with
the fear of maiming and death?
Benjamin also noted that while
Logistics Health put together its bid, “it partnered
with other firms, including QTC Management, Inc., another
contractor that is the largest private provider of government-outsourced
disability examination services in the country.
“The
company has raked in hundreds of millions through contracts
with the VA. Anthony Principi, the former secretary of the
VA, is chairman of the board.” The newly installed
VA Secretary, Gen. James Peake, had been QTC’s chief
operating officer when he received the President’s
nod.
But just days before the contract was awarded, Benjamin
learned, QTC “suddenly withdrew from the Logistics
bid and pulled the plug on merger talks, both for reasons
unknown. QTC, Principi told Benjamin, “decided not
to have anything to do with LHI.”
Other contractors,
Benjamin reported, “were flabbergasted
that Logistics Health was still awarded that $800 million
contract.”
In fairness, it should be noted that Winkenwerder
was quoted in the Los Angeles Times as saying that he had
nothing to do with the procurement process, had not talked
to Logistics Health about working there until after he left
the government in April, and had not lobbied the government
for the contract after leaving the Pentagon.
$3.7 BILLION
MORE
By the time you read this, the VA budget for the fiscal year
that began last October 1 should be signed into law. Even
though the government is operating yet again on a continuing
resolution, all parties have agreed to add $3.7 billion to
the VA’s healthcare coffers.
Just as we have fought
to get this money for veterans’ health
care, we will now, yet again, attempt to work even more closely
with Congress to monitor the VA to try and insure that these
funds are spent for the purposes for which they are intended.
|
©2006-
2008, Vietnam Veterans of America. All Rights Reserved. 8605 Cameron
Street, Silver Spring, MD 20910