FOCUS: VETERANS’ BENEFITS
More veterans turn to the VA for health care
Economic downturn spurs more to apply for coverage
Marshall Wood was a successful businessman for years. He sold medical supplies, did consulting and lived comfortably in Amherst.
But when it was time to sell the business a few years ago and slow down, he soon experienced the financial pain of paying for private health insurance.
“It was getting expensive. We made a decision since my wife and I were both veterans to transfer our care to the VA,” said Wood, who noted the move saved them about $1,000 a month.
They are not alone. Now that much of the auto industry is on public-funded life support and other industries are hurting, many displaced employees and retirees are scrambling to find a new source of health care benefits.
And since many of those individuals are veterans, they are turning to Veterans Affairs — a government institution some veterans and their advocates say is already overburdened.
Dozens of veterans who normally would not think of going to the government are enrolling in the VA in Buffalo so they can receive prescriptions and health care at its hospital and clinics.
Part of the increased demand began occurring soon after salaried GM retirees were told their health insurance was being replaced with a $300-a-month stipend starting in 2009, VA officials said.
“We’re already seeing veterans coming in because they’re concerned about General Motors and they want to be updated in our system,” said Carol A. Griffith, a Buffalo VA benefits counselor.
The queries come at a time when the VA is struggling to keep up with demands from a new wave of veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan with complex traumatic brain injuries and post traumatic stress.
Nationally, the number of veterans cared for by the VA is steadily climbing.
In 1997, the VA treated 2.9 million patients. Ten years later, 5.2 million vets received VA health care.
In Western New York, about 39,000 veterans received VA care in 2004. Last year, it was nearly 41,000. Not all are desperate
But even with the growing numbers, local VA officials insist they are keeping up with demand.
“We’ve added weekend and evening hours at our clinics to accommodate everybody within 30 days,” said Barbara J. Sellon, a VA public affairs specialist.
And while more veterans are going to the VA, not everyone receiving the benefits is desperate.
The VA acknowledges some veterans who are financially well-off qualify for the government benefits because of their military service. They prefer the VA because it has more-advanced diagnostic equipment and computerized medical records that allow for a quicker diagnosis, according to Evangeline Conley, VA spokeswoman.
But VA officials point out that many veterans who come to them often say they had held off until it was absolutely necessary.
Their reason? They wanted to spare the VA added expenses in order to save a spot for a veteran more needy than themselves.
VA officials say that while that is admirable, if a veteran is entitled to government-paid health care, he should at least enroll in the system to keep that option available, given economic uncertainties.
“A veteran who is gainfully employed or who has health insurance through a spouse or himself will say, ‘OK, I’ll receive my health care that way and save the benefit for a vet who is not that fortunate,’ but we still want these people to register in the system,” Griffith said. “You’ve earned it.”
She adds that not every veteran qualifies for VA health care. It depends on when and where the veteran served, whether there was a service-connected disability, and if the level of personal assets precludes eligibility.
And while there are financially well-off veterans in the system, there are also plenty of veterans of modest means, including some who receive Medicaid.
“We encourage veterans who are on Medicaid to come to the VA as well to get the best of both worlds,” Conley said.
The latest wave of queries from veterans, VA officials added, is not a new phenomenon in the Buffalo Niagara region, particularly when major plants like Bethlehem Steel in Lackawanna and Nabisco in Niagara Falls were shuttered.
And autoworkers by no means are the only ones to reach out to the VA.
Wood, the Air Force veteran who served in Vietnam, Thailand and Laos, never thought he would turn to the VA. But when the monthly bills for private health insurance started taking a big bite out of his limited income, he and his wife, Mary, reached out to the VA.
On all fronts, he described the VA’s care as far superior to what he had been accustomed to and, to make his case, cited the treatment he received for prostate cancer at a local hospital about five years ago.
“I almost felt from the first moment I entered the hospital they were looking for the first moment to get me out,” he said. “Then I go to the VA in October, and from the moment I arrived, I had the distinct feeling they weren’t trying to get me out the door. I just felt they were looking to find my problem and solve it.”
Agent-Orange victim
Wood, 65, said he has Agent Orange-related illnesses that affect his blood pressure, right eye and blood sugar levels. His wife, also an Air Force veteran, qualified because of her military service.
Wood thinks the VA will soon be in a better position to successfully carry out its mission under the leadership of the incoming secretary of the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs, retired Army Gen. Eric K. Shinseki.
“He was a wounded Vietnam vet and went on to four-star general status. Having someone of his stature and background is going to make a huge difference. He’s going to understand what the veterans are going through and what their needs are with brain injuries, [post traumatic stress syndrome] and other injuries,” Wood said.
On veterans who put off seeking VA care in order to save money so that more desperate veterans get care, Wood said it is commendable, but he agrees with VA officials that those vets should contact the VA.
“Nobody should overlook their health,” he said, “and if they can’t get it through their employer, then, as veterans, they’ve earned the right to at least go and see what they are entitled to.”
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