I would have to agree. If we could cut some of the wasteful practices and eliminate the fraud there would be no cuts necessary. I am going to share with everyone a letter I wrote to one of my college classes in order to get some support.
The following is from a letter written in early 2004.
As this class progressed, many people were shocked and justifiably appalled at Dr. Tunstall's depiction of the VA medical (Healthcare) system. I myself suffered significantly at the hands of maniacally sadistic nurses during the first few months of my rehabilitation. I have also heard even more graphically disturbing accounts of previous neglects at the hands of VA medical "professionals." In spite of this knowledge and experience, I have continued to get 100% of my medical attention through the VA, due to the tremendous strides the Department of Veterans Affairs has made in improving its medical care over the last several years. In fact, the Tampa VA has a new 70 bed Spinal Cord Injury Center which is touted as one of the best in the world. These extraordinarily leaps, however, are in danger of being eroded to a crawl and possibly reversed entirely.
After receiving the lowest funding increase in history, the VA Undersecretary for Health testified last year that the VA Healthcare System requires an average yearly medical care funding increase of 13% to 14% just to meet the cost of inflation and mandated salary increases. The administration's current request for FY 2005 funding provides for only a 1.2% increase, or $312 million, over last year's disgraceful funding increase. It has been estimated by several independent audits that in order for the VA Healthcare System to run efficiently it requires an increase of $3.2 billion in funding, not the $312 million presently slated. To many people these amounts are staggering, but it must be remembered the VA health system is not only the largest Healthcare system in the country, it is the biggest in the world, excluding Sweden and Canada's social Healthcare system.
There is, nonetheless, a permanent solution to this problem of woefully underfunding which has continued to plague the VA. The solution is to enact legislation to change funding for the VA Healthcare system from DISCRETIONARY to MANDATORY. Mandatory funding for VA Healthcare would ensure funding for the VA based on the number of veterans seeking care from the system without subjecting it to current and often arbitrarily discretionary pork barrel programs. I humbly ask all of you to call, write, or Email your Senator and Representative to tell them you support Senator Bill 19, Senate Bill 50, and House Bill 2318, all of which proposed to make funding for the VA Healthcare system mandatory. I respectfully ask you to remember that freedom is not free and the cost can be seen each day at every VA hospital.
I thank you in advance for your attention to this critical matter.
Billy Kimberlin
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