*****Under Construction*****
This section will defiantly require some work but got to start somewhere. Time constraints have me just typing with a flow, so a restructure will be in order to say the least.
Our situation is bleak as is. It has been almost a year since I have had any medical treatment of any sort, over a year since the VA cut off the last of my medications, and my health has been grim. I’m writing this in October 2012, I have only been out of the house nine times this year so far due to health, less ventures into the world than months so far this year.
A few months back my wife was rear-ended by a reckless driver and has been thru dozens of doctors’ appointments, emergency room treatment and physical therapy. Though my wife and kids are eligible thru my 100% rating from the VA for medical benefits, we have had none. No support, treatment or financial coordination for anything related to my wife and two kids to date. With medical debt that the VA has saddled me with plus my wife’s ongoing treatment our medical debt is tens of thousands of dollars.
VA compensation doesn’t exactly let you work overtime hours when you’re in a pinch, nor does our credit that has medical debt illegally on it allow us any advances or loans. We have previously sole everything we owned for bills, every electronic, every piece of furniture, tools, appliances, if it was worth anything, it was dispensable. That was years back when the VA paid us nothing though, and now with another child and with both of them old enough to be able to remember the here and now, going that route again is not possible.
When my wife was rushed to the hospital they believed her back to be broken. It is a miracle she made it out in one piece and able to walk. She had been plagued with problems ever since though. Her primary care physician was treating it as if it was only muscle damage, when other doctors have said it was more likely nerve damage. Her Physical Therapist suspended treatment saying she should have seen improvement by now and won’t take her back until she has and MRI with tracer’s uptakes.
So far we have skimmed by on a wing and a prayer. Most of her treatment has been billed to us and her lawyer, with very little up front compared to total cost. Until the overall case against the at fault driver can be completed, the insurance company will not pay out a dime to help with treatment or diagnosis. She had to quit her full time job when the VA was cutting my medical treatment to pick up my slack with the kids and the house so she is not even qualified for any type of temporary benefits or assistance. Her mother moved in with us for a few months to cover down for my wife now going thru many of the same things I had to go thru with my spinal injuries. The extra expenses have kept our monthly budget in the red and all savings drained for wife’s appointments.
Her mom moved back to her home this month in an attempt for me to reign in finances but in no month soon will we see a point when we can afford her MRI. Now were left with two disabled parent and two lively kids, neither of us receiving the medical treatment we need. I am still able to call in favors for an extra hand around the house, but financially we are without anyone around us in a position to help. The VA has been neglectful and done more to drive us away and make us fearful than help, turning to them alone again with our trust and faith is not something that we can do.
This situation is more complex from factors not included yet in the above, but there are distinct short and long term goals that need to be met.
Short term we need financial assistance. My wife needs to hopefully make some positive progress with here health and get back to 100%, and if not then move forward with her civil claim ongoing with the insurance company. I need immediate medical treatment, locally. Combined these expenses may reach into a five digit number, and no Veteran group or aid that I have ever talked to was willing to put of a fraction of those expenses. Not to say it doesn’t happen all the time, part of this websites purpose is to hopefully connect with such assistance.
I had assistance prior to now, but in small increments. The most to date is a couple of chiropractic appointments paid for thru The Salvation Army. Funds are not available where I live for Veteran programs. I am on the fence about personal donation, there is an overall problem with many Veterans out there aside from myself, and money is already donated “for Veterans”. I have ripped up checks sent us before in preference of the money being allotted for Veterans worse off than we are. No though we are in greater need, so it is debatable.
Long term goal, but hopefully not long in timeframe, is to reestablish properly within the VA, and to not only establish my full family for the same benefit’s allotted to other Veterans, but to finally complete my disability claim and finally receive the back pay withheld by the VA which is tens of thousands of dollars. The VA has paid us increments of back pay, but only as 100% disabled as of years after my injuries occurred, and I not only could not find employment after the Army, but lost the most secure job imaginable due to my disabilities. Being able to take care of the collective medical debt and receiving proper medical treatment that isn’t out of pocket and what compensation I receive with get us back to a financially stable situation and back on a positive track in multiple means.
“Help us survive so we can help you thrive”
Part of the problem for our country is the VA not taking care of what it needs to and properly. With over one hundred thousand homeless Veterans how can anything less be stated. America is already drained and still on the edge of a cliff financially, and War Heroes are one of our most valuable resources being wasted. The most respected, trusted, disciplined, dedicated groups in our society with the best work ethics and American Ethos, are held back by the very institution we entrust to care for us.
The resources are already available, but no government institution or agency, charity or group, has yet to solve even the problem of Homeless Veterans regardless of the millions of dollars and man hours invested from multiple angles. What’s needed is you. Demand from congress and our elected officials, from the media and from the Veteran Administration, and from all groups of interest already established, to coordinate efforts, put in civilian and veteran oversight groups, people that already volunteer their life and livelihoods to the bettering of Veteran services, to ensure the money gets properly allotted. My case in on its own shows the redundancy in paperwork, the overregulation and working that go against helping Veterans, spending more on prevention of a claim approval than treatment of a Disabled Veteran. Let us, Veterans, have a say as to the VA, stop entrusting politicians and distant administrators to control policy where it has proven failure thru the decades.
Please, it will take more than simply reading this to help. It will take more than waiting on politicians to comprehensively tackle these issues or even pass anything relevant and useful. It will take more than waiting on the media to hone in on the issue themselves and utilize their ability to bring light and focus without pressure. Continue to check here for the updates, I hope to at least start a petition if it works to be a good route, and if possible post formats to submit yourselves to any and all channels of elected official and agency that can effect change. For anyone who can and is willing, don’t wait on me, start writing and making calls yourselves. Everyone is welcome to use this site as reference, but awareness with commitment needs to stand fast against the ignorance and neglect that has evolved our lack of assistance for those whom served their country most honorably.
The portion of Americans who are Disables Veterans is one of the smallest groupings this country has to offer, and if as a country we cannot even fulfill the basic contract to care for our wounded Veterans and keep this one demographic employed or at least with a shelter or benefit’s, it basically translates to our country will also see failure when taking on the larger problems of the economy and national security. If we can’t keep up with what is an acute demographic, we’re doomed when up against the bigger picture and the larger problems facing America. We need a success and preferably quickly, Veterans Affairs are one issue Americans can still come across the aisle on, So please, spread the word.
