The following is a document that is being maintained by Organizing for America to clarify advances made during the current administration on behalf of veterans and their families.
The Accomplishments of President Obama
and the
Democratic Congress-
2010 BUDGET
VA’s budget request for 2010 provides the resources critical to transforming the VA and will help ensure that Veterans receive timely access to the highest quality benefits and services we can provide and which they earned through their sacrifice and service to our Nation. This is the largest one-year percentage increase for VA requested by a President in over 30 years.
The Department’s resource request for 2010 is nearly $113 billion—up $15 billion, or 16 percent, from the 2009 enacted budget (excluding funds provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009).
Funding for mandatory benefits in 2010 is 20 percent above the 2009 level. Over 90 percent of the growth in entitlement spending is due to increases in compensation payments to service-disabled Veterans and education benefits associated with the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2009—the New GI Bill.
POST 9/11 GI BILL
This is the most generous educational benefit for Veterans since the original GI Bill of 1944.
In the first two years of implementation, VA estimates that more than a quarter-million Veterans will receive education benefits from this bill.
With the implementation of the Post 9/11 GI Bill our Nation has an opportunity to honor America’s Veterans in a very tangible way. The maximum benefit under the Post-9/11 GI Bill allows Veterans, service members, Reservists and Guard members the ability to receive an in-state, undergraduate education at a public institution at no cost. Further, to honor their many sacrifices, the Post 9/11 GI Bill allows for the transferability of unused benefits to eligible career service members’ families.
1,200 institutions of higher learning are participating in the Yellow Ribbon program, with more than 3,400 agreements in place. The Yellow Ribbon program is a provision of the Post-9/11 GI Bill that allows degree-granting institutions to voluntarily enter into a formal agreement with VA to fund tuition and fee expenses that exceed the highest public, in-state undergraduate rates.
SEAMLESS TRANSITION FOR OEF/OIF VETERANS
The Department has an array of outreach services to ensure separating combat Veterans have a smooth transition to civilian life and know about their VA benefits. VA’s initiatives range from benefits counselors attending Guard and Reserve demobilization activities to VA employees personally telephoning hundreds of thousands of returnees who have not used VA services to ensure they understand they are eligible for benefits.
Additionally, White House staff, the VA and the Department of Defense are working diligently to create a Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record (VLER) using the Nationwide Health Information Network. This will allow us to move toward a streamlined transition of health care records between our departments, as well as the private sector. With proper security and confidentiality safeguards, that information will be available to improve the quality and safety of care received in the future, whenever and wherever that care is received.
FACT: Of the 1.6 million troops who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan since beginning of the conflicts, 868,717 have been separated from active duty and as civilians routinely became eligible for VA care. Some 347,750 have used VA health services. These patient numbers reflect the significant presence of National Guard and Reserve members serving, as they represent 39 percent of the patients.
VA MEDICAL CARE
Our top priority is providing timely, excellent services for our nations Veterans. Secretary Shinseki and the President are committed to ensuring VA with the adequate resources and access points to meet the health care needs of our Veterans. We have already begun the process of transforming VA into a 21st Century organization that is forward thinking and Veteran-centric focus.
By 2013 over 500,000 more Veterans, who were previously denied care, will now be eligible for VA health care.
Additionally, President Obama has proposed the single largest increase in funding for VA - $25 billion above baseline over the next five years. This funding will help VA focus on providing community-based primary care that will eliminate the need for hospitalization with an emphasis on prevention and health promotion.
To better serve the needs of our Veterans we will be moving away from the hospital being the center of our medical universe and increases the number of outpatient clinics. Also, our network of independent and community-based clinics will grow to 782, an increase of more than 100 in five years. Telemedicine is the key to providing Veterans the access to the care they need, no matter where they live.
RURAL HEALTH
VA is leading the way in rural health and is establishing a national model for health care and delivery beyond the nation’s urban centers and suburban expanses. We are building rural programs that can reach out to more than 8 million Veterans - 40 percent of those we serve each year who live in rural areas.
In May, VA announced $215 million in competitive funding which has allowed VA to establish new outpatient clinics, expand collaborations with federal and community partners, accelerate the use of telemedicine deployment, explore innovative uses of technology, and fund pilot programs across America.
MENTAL HEALTH
VA operates one of the largest mental health programs in the country. VA provides mental health services at each of 153 medical centers and nearly 900 community-based outpatient clinics. Each medical center has a PTSD Clinical Team or a specialist who focuses on the treatment of PTSD.
The budget gives the VA an additional $25 billion above baseline over the next five years to enhance outreach and services related to mental health care including post-traumatic stress disorder, and cognitive injuries including traumatic brain injury, with a focus on access for Veterans in rural areas.
FACT: VA employs approximately 18,000 mental health professionals, which includes an additional 4,200 hired in the last four years.
PTSD
VA operates an internationally recognized network of more than 200 specialized programs for the treatment of PTSD through its medical centers and clinics. Every VA medical center has outpatient PTSD specialty capability. We have increased the number of PTSD programs and tracks within our programs to meet the special needs of Veterans with co-occurring PTSD, and substance use disorders, other mental health problems, and military sexual trauma.
OEF/OIF veterans coming to VA for the first time are screened for the presence of symptoms of PTSD, depression and problem drinking. The same screening is repeated on an annual basis, and further evaluation and treatment are provided when veterans screen positive. While we are focused on the problems facing our newest group of Veterans, the VA also recognizes that many of these problems are faced by all groups of Veterans. The VA is committed to providing the best care possible for all Veterans, from the greatest generation to the latest generation.
FACT: A total of 105,465 OEF/OIF veterans were seen for potential PTSD in the Veterans Health Administration through September 30, 2008. In FY 2008, 442,862 VA patients received a diagnosis of PTSD.
SUICIDE PREVENTION
The basic principles guiding VA’s suicide prevention program are public health messages promoting care, ready access to high quality services, and mental health programs targeting those at highest risk.
VA has enhanced its mental health system by:
. Expanding capacity, especially in Community-Based Outpatient Clinics and subspecialty programs for PTSD, substance use, and returning veterans. . Improving access by integrating mental health into primary care.
. Transforming the mental health specialty care system to emphasize recovery and rehabilitation.
. Operating a suicide prevention hotline that has received over 160,000 calls since 2007, and has rescued over 3,800 lives.
. Appointing suicide prevention teams at every medical center to help identify Veterans at risk and to enhance their care.
. Opening a suicide prevention chat room approximately a month ago to reach our Veterans through internet based social media.
BACKLOG
We are diligently working on new and innovative ways to improve the process to ensure that claims are decided in an expeditious, accurate and timely manner. Our efforts to transform the VA into a 21st Century organization include creating an automated paperless system that will allow us to better serve Veterans and their families.
VA currently has approximately 400,000 claims in its inventory. These are rating related claims. Of these over 66% are reopened claims (increase in benefits, newly claimed disabilities, etc.)
VA is receiving more disability claims than at any time in recent history - averaging over 80,000 new claims added to the inventory each month.
VA’s aggressive outreach program for active duty and National Guard/Reserve members ensures service members are aware of benefits available to them. Over the past four years, VA has provided thousands of benefits briefings attended by over one million active duty and reserve personnel.
Steps VA is taking to reduce the backlog :
. VBA has hired nearly 4,200 new employees since January 2007.
. VA has modified its training program to focus initial training on specific claims processing functions. This also allows the more experienced employees to focus on the more difficult claims.
. VA has rehired annuitants to leverage the knowledge and experience of recently retired claims processors
. To help balance the inventory of claims across all regional offices, VA has implemented a “brokering strategy for claims requiring development and ready for a decision.
. VA is emphasizing Benefits Delivery at Discharge (BDD) program, through which recently discharged service members receive decisions within 60 days of discharge.
. VA and DoD are piloting a new Disability Evaluation System (DES) to streamline the process and provide expedited disability decisions upon discharge.
