Veterans Getting Scammed Out of Medical Benefits

Explosions, firearms, knives, and fighting that's what people think about when they think of war veterans. For some that might be the case, but what about after all of that? War vets are not very well treated after the war. So many people think veterans are not receiving the benefits and care they were promised even after an explosion may have happened. Will you think this as well?

As of March 18, 2015 55,000 veterans (just in Las Vegas North) are enrolled at the VA. 150 veterans are coming in every week to the Las Vegas VA (2015).

Since such a large quantity of veterans come into these health centers not everyone is able to get the access to the care, benefits, or resources they need and deserve. Veterans have been denied of the benefits they have earned for their service. “What I would like the VA to do is give me my agent orange benefits” stated Walter Bellard a veteran who should have access to “Agent Orange Benefits” but for an unknown reason he does not.

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Walter also said “I’m proud to have served my country. All i’m trying to say is we need help.” It is gravely unfair to these veterans that are not getting the benefits for putting their life on the line.

Another scam against our veterans is that they are being misdiagnosed purposely. Joshua Kors a journalist with the “Veterans Today” journal wrote an article on an alarming subject he found many cases where “soldiers wounded in Iraq are suspiciously diagnosed as having personality disorder to prevent from collecting benefits.” Kors believes the pentagon is having doctors wrongly diagnose veterans so the pentagon doesn't have to provide benefits of any kind.

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He also added “to cheat them out of a lifetime of disability and medical benefits, thereby saving billions in expenses. A military official (unidentified) said to Kors, “It’s like suddenly everybody (on my base) has a personality disorder. They’re saving a buck. And they’re saving the VA money too it’s all about money.” Over 2001 and 2007 22,500 veterans have been discharged for having “personality disorder” When they are diagnosed with this the pentagon is not obligated to provide medical benefits. Let’s remember every soldier is psychologically screened when they join the military.

Creator of Iraq War Veterans Organization Russell Terry said “if all these soldiers really did have pre-existing conditions, how did they get into the military in the first place?” Sure some of these men and women may have had pre-existing conditions but how would 22,500 (in 6 years) people get through thorough testing. Specialist Jon Town was diagnosed with a personality disorder. His diagnosis takes away any chance for disability or medical benefits. On october 2004, a 102-millimeter rocket blew up two feet from Jon Towns head during his time of service in Iraq. Jons ears were bleeding shrapnel had to be removed from his neck, the rocket also caused sustainable deafness. Jon also has memory loss and depression post-explosion. Despite this event and these conditions, doctors at Fort Carson diagnosed Jon with “personality disorder”. Fort Carson psychologist Mark Wexler told Jon he would receive disability benefits, however, he did not get what he was promised. When Jon found out he would not receive he was upset and rightfully so. Jon said “I was in total shock. I felt like I had been betrayed by the army.” This mis-diagnosing is hurting many veterans and is not helping them get what they need it is very disappointing the government would do things like this.

A reporter from the VA stated that schedulers were told to “manipulate data” as in making appointment delay seem shorter. Officials at phoenix VA Health Care System tried to cover up months of delays for veterans searching for benefits or even just in search of medical treatment. Almost ⅔ of 216 VA employes about 144 said they were also told to do similar actions. “Beyond a shadow of a doubt that wait time schemes and data manipulation are systematic throughout the VA, putting veterans across the country at risk.” A quote from Jeff Miller. Other VA health care are pulling nasty scams like these as well.

Vivieca Wright VA chief of Staff, confirmed that she manipulated an email for Dr.Merle Bari at the VA health care. The manipulation tricked the government to pay for Merle’s “business trip” which was really a vacation he took. Vivieca was not fixed, or asked to dishonorably resin, she simply retired to lead others to believe there was no scandalous actions. So many actions like these are happening and what about the ones we still don’t know about.

CBS News has uncovered many reoccurring cases where the VA is denying benefits to veterans that have rights to these benefit. CBS even says that veterans haven’t been able to appointments in time the CBS found cases where vets died before an appointment because the wait time was so long. The VA in fact wrote a letter to a veteran that applied for disability 10 years ago. Sadly he had died 7 years before the letter was sent to him. His widowed wife received the letter and it was very painful for her.

In March 2013 45% of veterans were trying to receive medical benefits. For a good reason too. In 2006 the ratio of wounded to dead was 16:1. However during World War 2 the ratio was 2:1. Some of these wounded veterans are suffering from permanent conditions. Also some of them are not receiving the healthcare they need for these conditions. Also there are so many more people that need these benefits than there were back in the 1900’s.

Officials are more focused on money than they are for health or these men and women that served this country. “I think it’s appalling that we’re not knocking ourselves out to do the very best” a quote from James Malec, a research director at rehabilitation hospitals. Another employee of the QTC (another veteran health care) sent a complaint because he thought the QTC “was too focused on it’s own bottom line rather than veterans health.” There are so many people that believe these health care centers are not focused on our veterans.

So maybe we get some good action movies out of the military, but we never see the truth of after the military. Sadly these veterans are lied to. They have to not receive the benefits they deserve because the government want to save money. Veterans don’t get appointments in time or maybe don’t even get their appointments at all. This isn’t fair to anyone. Do you think veterans are getting cheated out of their benefits yet?

Updated: Oct 10, 2024
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Veterans Getting Scammed Out of Medical Benefits. (2021, Dec 31). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/veterans-getting-scammed-out-of-medical-benefits-essay

Veterans Getting Scammed Out of Medical Benefits essay
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