There have been a few different initiatives in an effort to reduce the gap in mental health access for Veterans. The first is thru an executive order signed by President Obama in 2012. Improving Access to Mental Health Services for Veterans, Service Members and Military Families. Section 3 deals with the Veterans Affairs, the executive order states that within 180 days of the signed order in areas where the VA has faced challenges in hiring and placing mental health service providers and continues to have unfilled vacancies or long patient wait times. The VA shall establish contracts or develop formal arrangements with community providers and rural health clinics to test the effectiveness of community partner ships in helping to meet the mental health needs of veterans in a timely way. Section 4 of the executive order states that the secretary of …show more content…
This initiative abled medical centers to purchase no VA care for veterans thru locally contracted providers especially when the facility had limited capacity or the geographical distance would pose a problem for the veteran. The PCCC initiative exceeded its goal to hire 1,600 new mental health specialists and has hired more the 2,005 mental health providers filling existing vacancies. The House Committee chairman on Veterans Affairs has also promoted legislation that would require VA to contract non-VA facilities to coordinate care for veterans who seek mental health care outside the VA. These provisions would ensure that mental healthcare is provided to veterans in a timely manner. In 2012 the Inspector General found that more than half the veterans seeing VA Mental healthcare services wait on average 50 days for their initial evaluation. (U.S. Medicine, 2013) These wait times are uncalled for and
When a soldier enlists in the United States military they make a promise to serve and protect our nation, putting their lives at risk to help keep America safe. Sadly when they finish their service they unknowingly enlist themselves in another war: to receive proper health care from VA. Things like long waiting times, understaffed facilities, and few care options for veterans in rural areas are just the beginning of the problems plaguing VA health care. Horrifying issues that are killing our veteran are beginning to surface such as employees falsifying records, outdated facilities spreading diseases, and patient neglect; all while key VA officials continue to scramble to cover things up. Our government must intervene quickly to fix the growing problems with VA health care so our veterans receive the care they were promised and should be receiving.
Veterans need to be taken care of medically, mentally, and financially, as promised by President Obama. "It's a commitment that begins at enlistment, and it must never end. But we know that for too long, we've fallen short of meeting that commitment. Too many wounded warriors go without the care they need. Too many veterans don't receive the support they've earned.
“Factors Affecting Health Care” (50-55) Demonstrates the sacrifices and how difficult it is for veterans to receive healthcare from the Department of Veteran Affairs.
...isting the help. The negative attitudes towards seeking help now escalate into bigger issues to include possible criminal mischief. It is clearly evident that these courts are here to stay. I truly believe that any veteran, who voluntarily risks their lives to serve and protect their country, definitely deserves to receive assistance.
It is understandable that some people may disagree on improvement of veteran care due to simple things like the fact that “veterans were getting addicted….even dying, from over prescription,” when they asked for assistance with their PTSD, but when all things are considered, veterans risked their lives for freedom. People should be able to take the time to take care of those who were willing to give their lives for freedom. Colby Buzzel says “if you want to know what the price of freedom looks like, go to a V.A. waiting room- wheelchairs, missing limbs, walking wounded.” These are all things that veterans have to go through to ensure freedom. And that is added to their struggle of PTSD. So, before people say that veteran care for PTSD does not need improvement, they need to think about whether or not they are willing to pay the same price that these veterans were willing to
In 2010, veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) cost the government about $1.3 billion (United States of America 17). This is an enormous amount of money, but it hasn’t even been helping veterans. Many vets aren’t finishing treatment but continue to receive disability checks from the Veterans Health Administration, abbreviated to VHA. Not only this, but some veterans are faking their way into the system and evading the diagnosis process by coming up with an tall tale. It is on the Veteran’s Affairs (VA) to determine whether these stories are fake (Department of Veterans’ Affairs), which is many times impossible to regulate. New laws that are being passed that make it easier for veterans to receive disability checks are not helping this problem either (Brown and Thompson 43). The government is spending too much money on a system that is failing our veterans; the public should not have to pay when the money is going to waste on misdiagnosis, failing treatment, and unjust laws.
Patient-centered care (PCC) is a healthcare model focused on actively involving the patient in all aspects of planning, implementation and monitoring of care. It integrates respect for the patient’s needs, values and beliefs into the health care process. Important aspects of PCC are collaborative care, Family-centered care, and comfort. PCC allows the patient to have autonomy and a more collaborative role in making decisions regarding their treatment.
Rates of mental illness are rising among Veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. This social problem has had significant consequences, such as spikes in homelessness, unemployment and suicides in this population. Many argue there are too many barriers to mental health treatment in a society that stigmatizes mental illness and undervalues mental health care. Research supports this assertion, particularly within the Veteran population (Greene-Shortridge, Britt, & Castro, 2007). System justification theory offers an explanation for why society stigmatizes mental illness in spite of the devastating consequences of treatment underutilization.
One of the most serious problems facing all veterans today is the lack of proper healthcare. Soldiers, sailors and airmen are leaving active duty without having proper healthcare to cover their physical or mental injuries. The department responsible for veteran’s healthcare is the Department of Veterans Affairs. (VA) According to The department of Veterans Affairs website, “The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a government-run military veteran benefit system with Cabinet-level status. It is responsible for administering programs of veterans’ benefits for veterans, their families, and survivors. The benefits provided include disability compensation, pension, education, home loans, life insurance, vocational rehabilitation, survivors’ benefits, medical benefits and burial benefits. It is administered by the United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs.” The VA, who was formerly called the Veterans Administration, was established 21 July 1930, to consolidate and coordinate government activities affecting war veterans. The VA encompassed the functions of the former U.S. Veterans' Bureau, the Bureau of Pensions of the Interior Department and the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. On 25 October 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed legislation creating a new federal Cabinet-level Department of Veterans Affairs to replace the Veterans Administration effective 15 March 1989 (V.A.)
When men and women are off to war, or serving the United States Military somewhere out in the world, social workers in the Department of Veteran Affairs are trained and educated to help our soldiers and their families stay physically, mentally, and emotionally healthy throughout each day. Social workers can be found at local VA Health Administration Branches in almost every state, and as well in-country bases occupied by American Forces located throughout the world. There are roughly 3,700 social workers in the Veterans Affairs Health Administration to date. This number shows huge growth from the original 14 that began over 80 years ago.
If the United States had unlimited funds, the appropriate response to such a high number of mentally ill Americans should naturally be to provide universal coverage that doesn’t discriminate between healthcare and mental healthcare. The United States doesn’t have unlimited funds to provide universal healthcare at this point, but the country does have the ability to stop coverage discrimination. A quarter of the 15.7 million Americans who received mental health care listed themselves as the main payer for the services, according to one survey that looked at those services from 2005 to 2009. 3 Separate research from the same agency found 45 percent of those not receiving mental health care listing cost as a barrier.3 President Obama and the advisors who helped construct The Affordable Care Act recognized the problem that confronts the mentally ill. Mental healthcare had to be more affordable and different measures had to be taken to help patients recover. Although The Affordable Care Act doesn’t provide mentally ill patients will universal coverage, the act has made substantial changes to the options available to them.
The American Health Care Act doesn't want to expand anymore money towards mental health. Mental health treatment services need to be maintained but also expaned in order to keep the country's mental health needs. Melissa Warnke explains, "The House and Senate verisons of Trumpcare would both phase out funding for that expansion and cut Medicaid spending by almost a trillion dollars over a decade.
Veterans who did believe is seeking treatment reported that they believed that treatment would help their symptoms. However, like the study mentioned this is a double edge sword because the veterans who did seek treatment described treatment as difficult due to having to talk about their experiences. In this regard, it is important that social workers who work in mental health use motivational interviewing in order to increase engagement. Using motivational interviewing could help the veteran build a rapport with the social worker, as well as help the social worker asses the beliefs and behaviors of the
In order to help current and future veterans there needs to be a change within the staffing, funding, and overall urgency towards mentally ill veterans. Though many people assume that veterans are well taken care of after war, evidence of mental health disorders and large numbers of suicide suggest otherwise, therefore the VA program should be reformed. Mental illness is no stranger to veterans of the U.S military, as far back as World War II there have been reports of mental disease among veterans. The most common mental illness among veterans is P.T.S.D (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), the severity of this illness usually increase due to a traumatic brain injury. Lifeline for Vets states that
One of the first major steps that began the development of community health centers was the Community Mental Health Act of 1963, signed by President John F. Kennedy (Moran, 2013). Under this law, mental health needs shifted from institutions to community-based programs that helps prevents, identifies and treats mental illnesses (Moran, 2013). Many people realized how institutions were not responding to the higher rates of patients appropriately and questioned its overall effectiveness and lack of holistic practices (Moran, 2013). Since the Community Mental Health Act of 1963, the United States worked on deinstitutionalization so communities can get the health care they needed