By Suzanne Gordon and Steve Early, originally in Jacobin Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the often-hidden wound of war. Post-9/11 wars added hundreds of thousands of former service members to the patient rolls of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) — the nation’s largest public health care system — to get treatment for anger and depression, substance abuse, suicidal ideation, and past exposure to military sexual trauma.

A recent article in The New York Times provides a poignant example of the problems faced by veterans with Other than Honorable (OTH) discharges. Hundreds of thousands of service members who have mental or physical problems acquired or exacerbated by military service are given such discharges as punishment. Veterans who receive a bad paper discharge are not only denied access to VA healthcare, but are also ineligible for any other benefits, including veteran preference when applying for a job.

On November 16th, the VA released its annual National Veteran Suicide Prevention Report, analyzing data and factors associated with US veterans who died by suicide in 2021.

By Paul Sullivan In 2011, a mother in distress phoned me about her son who had just returned from the war in Iraq.

By Paul Sullivan Thanks to bipartisan work in Congress and the President’s signature in August 2022, the PACT Act became law. Since then, a tide of more than a million disability claims have been submitted by veterans to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

Today, the Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute (VHPI) published a new report focused on how VA privatization threatens America’s national security. The paper is written by Ryan Leone, a medical student at Columbia University who is also a U.S. Army officer and former Presidential Management Fellow at the Department of Defense’s Defense Health Agency.

By Suzanne Gordon and Steve Early in The American Prospect The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has been suffering from continuing staffing shortages at the nation’s largest public health care system, which has hampered the ability to directly care for veterans.

By Suzanne Gordon and Steve Early in Beyond Chron The national wave of worker unrest over hospital conditions that create job stress, burn-out, and short staffing reached the corner of Clement and 42ndStreets in the outer Richmond last Wednesday, Oct. 18. Nearly 100 RNs and other staffers from the San Francisco VA Medical Center (SFVAMC) spent their breaks or lunch hour on an informational picket-line, organized by Local 1 of the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), which represents

Today, the Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute (VHPI) published a new report sounding the alarm over a number of misguided Congressional proposals that promise to increase healthcare access for veterans in rural areas. Entitled “The Problem of Rural Veterans Healthcare and How to Solve it,” the VHPI report warns that further privatization of the healthcare system run by the Department of Veterans of Affairs (VA) will weaken healthcare access for the 2.7 VA patients who live in rural areas.

By Russell B. Lemle, PhD, VHPI Policy Director VHPI recently criticized the VA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) for providing far too little oversight of the Community Care Network (CCN), a growing cadre of private providers who now deliver a third of VA’s health care. One step in the right direction is a new OIG report regarding CCN providers who prescribe controlled substances for veterans.

By Russell Lemle and Jasper Craven in Task & Purpose The realm of veterans health care policymaking has, for a decade, been dominated by a dangerous libertarian fallacy, namely that greater personal choice and less government involvement are unequivocally advantageous. Allowing more options, lawmakers and advocates contend, benefits every veteran. It’s even framed as a patriotic “defense of freedom.” ,

By Bruce Carruthers The VA’s Office of the Inspector General recently released its annual staffing shortage report for Veterans Health Administration (VHA) facilities. It shows an alarming surge of “severe” staffing shortages over the last two years. (A severe shortage, broadly defined, occurs when vacancies in a particular vocation are consistently difficult to fill) Between 2021 and 2022, severe staffing shortages increased by 21.8 percent; last year they increased by 18.9 percent…

By Russell Lemle, The Washington Monthly For four decades, the Office of Inspector General at the Department of Veterans Affairs has played an indispensable watchdog role, helping to ensure that veterans receive high-quality healthcare. Its investigators have repeatedly identified deficiencies in VA patient care and recommended corrections. The Inspector General’s office’s diligence is one reason that the quality of VA’s healthcare consistently outperforms the private sector’s. However, the Insp

By VHPI Policy Director Russell B. Lemle, PhD; Joseph T. Abate, DMD, President, National Association of VA Physicians and Dentists; and Teresa Morris, Director, Advocacy and Government Relations, Nurses Organization of Veterans Affairs “What if VA health care goes away?” That was the headline of a July 6, 2023, Disabled American Veterans news article to its members. The question was not hypothetical. Legislation currently under consideration by the US Congress may make it a strong probability.

VHPI recently had the opportunity to correspond with Harold Kudler, M.D., one of the nation’s most experienced physicians who has dedicated his career to treating and serving veterans.

By Suzanne Gordon and Steve Early Funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) was one of many federal budget items that suddenly became uncertain during the debt ceiling showdown this spring.