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DAV CALLS SEAMLESS TRANSITION FIX JUST A
"BAND-AID" -- White House mandate of "using
existing resources" means funds will be drained
from other VA programs for Seamless Transition.
I write a weekly column for a military
newspaper in Washington State, and I usually keep those articles
separate from my work on VA Watchdog dot Org.
But, I thought I'd share the latest with
you.
The only changes are added hyperlinks to
background information.
Story below:
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Fixing Seamless Transition
Can it be done “using existing resources?”
by Larry Scott
The Walter Reed scandal shocked the nation. Our wounded warriors were
stuck in shoddy buildings and bogged down in government red tape that
trapped them between Department of Defense (DoD) healthcare and the
Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA) healthcare system. For many, their
status was unknown, to the military the VA and to them. They didn’t know
what benefits, if any, they had coming.
The outcry was deafening. Veterans’ service organizations demanded
answers. Congress, not to be outdone, held hearings and opened
investigations. The military began numerous investigations. The
unanimous decision was that something must be done to correct the
problems brought to light by Walter Reed and found to exist at most
military facilities.
The immediate view, forwarded by the service organizations, was simple:
Lack of funding led to lack of staffing which led to wounded and injured
soldiers caught in a bureaucratic limbo. The answers seemed simple to
many. An infusion of funds into the DoD and VA healthcare systems would
help solve the staffing problems and that, in turn, would provide
military personnel with the needed services.
DoD and VA have had a program in place for a number of years to help
veterans move from DoD healthcare into the VA system. It’s called
Seamless Transition. The kindest assessment of Seamless Transition is:
It doesn’t work. Service organizations have berated it, Congress has
investigated it and veterans make jokes about it. With wounded veterans
appearing on TV most every day complaining about a system that didn’t
work, something had to be done. More funding, perhaps? It wasn’t to be
that simple.
In early March of this year, President Bush formed a multi-agency task
force to investigate the bureaucratic red tape surrounding the Seamless
Transition program. He named VA Secretary Jim Nicholson to head the task
force and told him to “fix it.” (Task force story here...
http://vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfMAR07/nf030807-3.htm )
At the same time, an “external” commission was asked to review the
situation. That commission has headed by John O. "Jack" Marsh, Army
secretary during the Reagan administration and Togo D. West, secretary
of the Army and Veterans Affairs under President Clinton. The Marsh/West
commission blasted the Pentagon's “virtually incomprehensible
inattention” and “almost palpable disdain” for troop care. The
commission said the Pentagon made problems worse by ordering a hold-down
on costs and expenses. The bottom line of the report was: They need more
funding. (Commission story here...
http://vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfAPR07/nf041207-4.htm )
Given the Marsh/West commission report, many expected the Nicholson task
force to follow suit. That report came out two weeks ago. There were 25
specific recommendations to help solve the problems in the Seamless
Transition program. But, there was no mention of additional funding or
increased staffing for DoD or VA.
Why was this? The answer was right out in the open. A look at the
Mission Statement of the Nicholson task force shows the White House had
mandated that the problems in the Seamless Transition program be solved
“using existing resources.”
Can the Nicholson task force recommendations be implemented “using
existing resources?” David W. Gorman, Executive Director of the Disabled
American Veterans (DAV), thinks not. Gorman said, “It remains to be
seen whether the recommendations put forward in the report, which
apparently the president has embraced, can be implemented in a timely
manner or even be accomplished within existing resources, which only
means that scarce dollars will have to be siphoned off from other vital
VA functions…The task force has recommended a Band-Aid solution.”
Are more funds needed? Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Member of the Senate
Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, says yes. "They have low-balled the cost
of this war, and the cost of caring for our soldiers,” said Murray.
Nicholson task force report on the web:
http://www1.va.gov/taskforce/
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(NOTE: The quote from the DAV's Gorman
used in this story was a partial quote. The entire quote follows:
"The original charge to the Task Force was
to make recommendations that could be implemented within existing
resources and make none requiring new legislation. It remains to be seen
whether the recommendations put forward in the report, which apparently
the president has embraced, can be implemented in a timely manner or
even be accomplished within existing resources, which only means that
scarce dollars will have to be siphoned off from other vital VA
functions. However, having identified certain gaps in services provided
to veterans from different federal agencies, the Task Force has
recommended a Band-Aid solution to these problems. Rather than a
reactive, ad hoc approach to the issues, the best way to serve our most
recent heroes remains a fully functional, adequately funded, staffed,
trained and accountable VA."
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Larry Scott --
