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Remembering our veterans is critical at all times of the year, through all seasons, but on this precious day we set aside time to give it special attention.
For anyone who has had a family member in the military, who has heard their stories firsthand, days like this take on a painful significance, especially when remembering those whose stories have been silenced by time, age or injury.
Memorial Day is usually a time to focus on those already departed, but for me it's also a time to honestly consider how we treat all vets, and if we're doing right by them before it's too late.
The millions of veterans who call the United States home have a right to the best health care we can afford them.
It certainly hasn't been the case in recent years that all our vets have been treated to the highest standard of care. The well-known nightmare of Walter Reed Hospital is an example that continues to resonate in many peoples' minds.
A country with a strong military needs a strong medical program for its service members, and that takes funding.
A bill in Congress that has the attention of many local veterans as well as national veterans organizations is HR 2514, the Assured Veterans for Health Care Act of 2008.
The bill is meant to change the way Veterans Administration funding is determined, taking it from discretionary to mandatory, establishing a baseline funding year and providing future funding based on the number of actual veterans who participate in the health care system. In addition, it would figure in rising costs of providing health care.
Congressman Mike Thompson is among the bill's cosponsors.
Unfortunately, the bill – introduced May 24, 2007 – has been stuck in the House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Health since just days after its introduction.
In January, Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota introduced S 2639, the Senate's version of the bill. In February, that bill was sent to the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Sen. Johnson reported on his Web site that the legislation is supported by the American Legion, the Disabled American Veterans, the Paralyzed Veterans of America and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
The Vietnam Veterans of America also are lobbying for the bill. Dr. Thomas J. Berger, chair of the VVA's National PTSD and Substance Abuse Committee, and Rick Weidman, the association's executive director for policy and government affairs, testified last Wednesday before the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, asking them to consider a number of bills, including S 2639.
The men pointed out, “Unfortunately the debates regarding funding of veterans' health care continue to focus on the year-to-year 'band-aids' and quick fixes needed to keep the health care system afloat.”
They said it was time to ensure “a consistent, predictable and responsible level of funding that will give more than lip service to the mandates for health care set forth in law, and by the will of the American people.”
The Veterans Administration's funding is so uncertain and inadequate that it is barring many veterans from eligibility for services, Berger and Weidman reported.
There are many causes vying for attention and money from Congress, but certainly the care of our nation's veterans has to be at the top of the list.
For those of you who would like to help move these bills forward, write to Congressman Bob Filner, the House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Health chair, and ask him to move HR 2514 toward a House vote. Write to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, 335 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, D.C 20515; fax your letter to 202-225-2034; or call 202-225-9756.
On the Senate side, contact Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs Chair Sen. Daniel Akaka at www.senate.gov/~veterans/public/index.cfm?pageid=1, by writing to 412 Russell Senate Building, Washington D.C. 20510, or by calling Democratic staff at 202-224-9126 or Republican staff at 202-224-2074.
Neither Sens. Barbara Boxer or Dianne Feinstein have signed on as cosponsors of the Senate bill.
Contact Sen. Barbara Boxer at 112 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington D.C. 20510; telephone 202-224-3553; Web site, http://boxer.senate.gov; e-mail, http://boxer.senate.gov/contact/email/policy.cfm. Her San Francisco office can be reached at 1700 Montgomery St., Suite 240, San Francisco, CA 94111, telephone 415-403-0100, fax 202-224-0454.
Contact Sen. Dianne Feinstein at 331 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington D.C. 20510; telephone 202-224-3841, fax 202-228-3954, TTY/TDD 202-224-2501. For her San Francisco office, write One Post Street, Suite 2450, San Francisco, CA 94104; telephone 415-393-0707; fax 415-393-0710. Her Web site is http://feinstein.senate.gov, where you also can send her an e-mail at http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactUs.EmailMe.
I think Memorial Day is an entirely appropriate time to ask if we're doing right by our surviving veterans. After all, those who died in combat, or served and passed on later, did their duty to ensure that this country continued to give its citizens the very best it had to offer.
Our honored dead had a right to expect we would take care of their brothers and sisters in arms when they came home, after their service was done. That's what we should strive to do now and always. It's a critical and moral obligation, and a duty of love to those who served.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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