Via The Poughkeepsie Journal
Today’s Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are returning home from the longest combat operations since Vietnam.
These brave men and women will need services such as job training, housing and health care. What about the unseen scars of war? The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has not been able to meet the challenges faced by servicemen and women struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, substance abuse and other behavioral health conditions. We can do better.
According to the National Institutes of Health, 31 percent of Vietnam veterans and 30 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, yet as many as two-thirds of veterans with PTSD are not receiving treatment, putting themselves at risk for sleep disorders, depression and anxiety, even suicide.
I’ve talked to many veterans for whom the public stigma of mental illness is preventing them from seeking the proper treatment. A physical condition like a knee injury would never go untreated; yet mental health is too often ignored because the individual feels shame or embarrassment. Or maybe insurance eligibility or distance from a clinical treatment facility is keeping them from the help they want.
One way to overcome the mental health care access gap and reach those 66 percent of veterans struggling in silence is to provide them with an environment in which they can talk about their issues openly. My plan to reform veterans’ health care uses peer-to-peer counseling to help them overcome the stigma some see attached to conditions like PTSD and begin to seek treatment today. It was developed thanks to the guidance and advice of combat and noncombat veterans from across upstate New York.
Here’s how it works: the federal government would establish a competitive grant program and empower nonprofits in the community already providing peer-to-peer counseling for veterans. The program would be paid for with an estimated $40 million in savings a year from capping the bonuses of senior executives at the VA and finding additional savings through an audit of the federal government’s mental health programs. There is no state or local matching share to cover.
My plan would also extend hours at VA outpatient pharmacies nationwide to include nights and weekends, comparable with retail pharmacies, and allow veterans to seek immediate behavioral health care outside the VA system for those currently eligible for the Veterans Choice Program. The arbitrary rules imposed by the Choice Program that force veterans to wait more than 30 days or live over 40 miles away from a clinic in order to use non-VA resources will hurt those seeking treatment for mental health. This red tape has got to go.
The VA has faced up to some of its shortcomings in recent years, and that’s admirable. However, it’s track record of treating PTSD and similar conditions continues to fall short, and the proof is in the data. A veteran is likelier to talk to another veteran who has fought the battle with mental illness and won than a therapist who’s got the books but lacks a heart. Peer-to-peer counseling, funded by the federal government, in a setting veterans trust and according to the best practices being used at nonprofits today, can have a positive role in the lives of millions of fellow Americans.
For those who carry their battlefield scars, seen and unseen, help is on the way.
John Faso is a former minority leader of the state Assembly and a Republican candidate for the 19th Congressional District.