MORGANTOWN, W. Va.–Proposed changes to the VA hospitals in West Virginia have drawn the ire of many, including the top man over veterans issues in the Mountain State.
Ted Diaz, secretary of Veterans Assistance in West Virginia, said the evaluation put together by the VA for review does not bode well for the car of former service men and women in West Virginia. In many cases it would eliminate emergency care and surgical procedures at V-A facilities in Beckley, Clarksburg, and Huntington. Those procedures would be farmed out to civilian healthcare outlets.
Speaking on MetroNews “Talkline,” Diaz stressed such a change would erode quality of care.
“We have an excellent healthcare system that VA provides currently. My biggest fear is that these heroes are going to lose healthcare and they are going to withdraw themselves away from the benefits they’ve earned,” he said.
Diaz had no problem specifically with civilian healthcare, but said the VA is better equipped to handle those who are suffering wounds from war.
“VA is specifically trained for the trauma that our veterans have seen across the world while serving our country,” he said.
U.S. Senators Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito have also expressed frustration at the proposal which was put together at the behest of Congress. Congressman David McKinley also doesn’t like the recommendations.
A caller to Monday’s “Talkline” agreed civilian care for those who have served in the military is not the same as treatment at the V-A hospital.
“Within that system, we are treated with a much higher level of respect in regard to who we are and what we’ve done,” said Paul, who said he was a Disabled Veteran.
Paul explained he had been on the same medication since 1992 for pain. He said the regimen had worked well to control his pain, but on two occasions he had to go to a civilian hospital where the experience wasn’t pleasant.
“I was treated just like the local pill heads and junkies. I was immediately lumped into, ‘Oh, you’re just looking for drugs.’” he said.
Paul added he has been treated in a number of hospitals across the nation since his military discharge. He said West Virginia’s VA facilities have improved greatly in the past 30 years, but were not excessive or extravagant. He suggested there were plenty of places to cut waste in the system without impacting patient care.
“I’d be very interested to see what kind of cuts are being done at the Washington V-A and the San Francisco V-A, because at those facilities I saw the most elaborate of executive offices and the most incredulous waste of taxpayer funds where the bureaucracy was getting much more than the veterans,” he said.
The proposal at this point is just a proposal and has a long way to go before it could ever happen. But the hurdles it has to cross isn’t the concern of Diaz. He wants more people to know about it now and hopes the plan never sees the light of day.
“We need to make our veteran population and the public aware of these recommendations. We’ve got to make sure our veteran population is taken care of,” Diaz said.