Obama has faced the increasing pressure on him over the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act that has included a bi-partisan letter from all of the Congressmen on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee by still continuing to fail to implement any of the extended veterans’ benefits of the Caregiver Act. However despite this complete inaction, the Obama administration continues to claim that the “VA and veterans are the president’s top priority” as Deputy VA W. Scott Gould did in a high profile speech last week. The Caregiver Act, which Obama signed it into law nearly a year ago, extends veterans of the War on Terror’s benefits and is meant to provide critical support services to those who take care of our nation’s most severely wounded warriors and includes a stipend to be paid to the primary caregiver of a disabled veteran as well as provisions to pay lodging and meals to those caregivers who might accompany injured veterans on trips for VA healthcare evaluations and treatments.
Because of the obvious importance of providing financial stability for these veterans and their caregivers veterans’ support groups like the Wounded Warrior Project claimed the program was a sign of hope when it was first signed into law on May 5th of last year. However in the intervening 11 months many people’s bright expectation have been tamped into an undiluted pessimism as Obama has failed to get the programs up and running even though months have passed since the January 30th deadline.
And there’s nothing to show that Obama has any plans of working towards getting the programs started either. In fact President Obama’s recent move to place troops in Libya, and the looming possibility that it might lead to a prolonged and bloody engagement as an occupying force has likely only slowed down the process because one of the major problems with starting the program is that veterans and caregivers from wars other than the War on Terror are clamoring for the provisions to apply to them as well, as are veterans and caregivers of veterans with mesothelioma. Mesothelioma, a cancer caused by asbestos exposure, is extremely prevalent among older veterans because of the military’s heavy use of asbestos before it was discovered to be dangerous. Because the symptoms of mesothelioma are often not diagnosed until victims are in their late 60’s and are so debilitating, many of the veterans diagnosed with the cancer can be extremely difficult for caregivers to take care of. Despite Obama’s hot air rhetoric about supporting veterans wholeheartedly the VA has been resistant to include veterans of previous wars and veterans with mesothelioma under the provisions, which has in turn made it more to difficult to get the programs started. And with the situation in Libya it’s completely unclear whether Obama’s actions are considered to fall under the War on Terror or not, or if the provisions in the Caregiver Act also apply to those veterans who are injured in any future wars.
If the Obama administration wants to try and live up to its rhetoric for once then they need to get the Caregiver Act programs that they signed into law up and running as quickly as possible instead of waiting while veterans and their families suffer, and they need to make sure that the benefits extend to at least the soldiers fighting in Obama’s engagement in Libya as well.
Dardan–
You’ve highlighted the reason that I mute the TV whenever Obama comes on. When his lips are moving, you know he’s lying. Why listen to him?
Could it be that Obama would rather the veterans sue through the hordes of lawyers advertising on TV for mesothelioma, instead of burdening the government with claims and care?
Thank you Dardan, please keep us appraised of this situation.
Our vets should be our most treasured resource. Stand up for our disabled vets or hang your head in shame.
Actually, some Vietnam era veterans are also affected by asbestos.
My husband was in the boiler room of a WWII ship, loaded with friable asbestos, without ventilation nor airway protection, for over four years. Thirty-six years after his service (he joined the Navy to avoid being drafted into the Army infantry), he has evidence of pleural plaques in his lungs, which is medical evidence of asbestos exposure and a 50% chance of developing lung cancer/mesothelioma.
The VA has been very slow in considering his compensation; many vets strongly feel as if the VA intentionally drags its foot, hoping the impaired vets simply pass on before the claim is granted (the claim does not survive the vet’s death to benefit the family if not awarded before the vet’s death, even if the cause of death IS mesothelioma, etc). This capricous and arbitrary system for considering claims for compensation contributes to many vets’ depression and other mental illnesses.
Its sad that some people value teachers more than they value soldiers. Votes and popularity have corrupted these peoples values (assuming they ever had any). I’m sure that guilt will catch up to them one day, what goes around comes around.
IT’S NOT IF THEY WILL DO IT’ BUT IT’S HOW MUCH THE MUST DO IT AND HOW MUCH IS THE TOP
THEY MUST DO, FOR RETURNING MILITARYS FOR ALL THE WARS THE GOVERNMENT STARTED THEMSELF, THEY MUST BE HOLD ACCOUNTABLE TO GIVE THE TOP NOTCH CARE NOT MATCH BY ANY OTHER CIVILIENS PROGRAMS, BEING THE WELFARE PROGRAMS OR THEIR OWN AGENCY PROGRAMS OF ANY SORT THEY CAN FIND,
IT’S TIME FOR THE MILTARYS’S RETURNING HOME TO BE PAMPERED AND GIVEN THE CHAMPAGNE TO THEM AFTER THEY ENDURE THEIR DESCENT INTO HELL ITSELF;
AND IT IS AN INFAMY TO LEARN THAT SOME ARE HOMELESS AND SAD AT THIS TIME OR ANY TIME INSIDE THEIR AMERICA THEY HAVE MADE A CARRER TO PROTECT AND ALWAYS OBEYED THE CALL TO LEAVE EVERYTHING THEY LOVE BEHIND FOR THIS AMERICA,
THEY NEVER LET THEIR COUNTRY DOWN ON ANY WAR,
AND DON’T YOU DARE LET THEM DOWN WHEN THEY NEED IT THE MOST,
THOSE WHO WANT TO CUT ON THE CARE EXPANSES ARE THE MOST DESPICABLE HUMANS BEEN OF THIS SOCIETY AND DONT DESERVE NOTHING FROM ANY SERVICE AMERICA CAN PROVIDE,
IF THE GOVERNMENT NEED MORE MONEYFOR OUR SICK RETURNING FIGHTERS, WELL JUST TAKE IT FROM THOSE WHO DONT VALUE THE WORK OF THE BRAVEST ONE OF AMERICA