News @lemmy.world FenrirIII @lemmy.world 1mo ago

Jon Stewart pushes VA to cover troops sickened by uranium after 9/11. Again, they are told to wait

apnews.com Jon Stewart pushes VA to cover troops sickened by uranium after 9/11. Again, they are told to wait

Comedian Jon Stewart and troops sickened by uranium have ended a meeting at the Department of Veterans Affairs angry that once again they have been told they will have to wait to see whether the VA will connect their illnesses to the toxic base where they were deployed shortly after 9/11.

16 comments

Nothing new. The VA walks things slower than other government agency. This i know from my experience with them. Took them 5 years to treat my back injury. Had to go through so many loops and doggie shows just to get medical treatment.
- I’m sorry to hear that. I think so many problems stem from the vast differences in quality of care between VA / VBA systems. If you get lucky, it seems amazing. If you are in a bad system, it’s a bureaucratic nightmare.
  
  I swear to god I think they make it bad on purpose to make us think single payer healthcare sucks
  
  Just wanted to follow-up on my comment. I was thinking about it today, and I believe ProPublica or some professional journalist or grad school student should engage in a project to study the underlying factors that drive poor VA outcomes. I'm sure it's been done, but it would be nice to see some more research.
  
  I would be willing to bet there are significant correlation in terms of VA system health outcomes and a range of socioeconomic variables (demographics, voting patterns, etc.).
  
  My hypothesis is that, just like most government outcomes, the most conservative areas also treat veterans the worst and disapprove a shockingly high percentage of disability claims. Having this information in the public domain might influence reforms at the worst-offending VA / VBA systems.
- Support our troops- except in any way that might actually give them any real support!
  
  But hey, yellow ribbon tied around the tree!
For honoring the troops as much as it does, the US sure seems to hate them...
- Just like thought and prayers: only the words.
- With all the honors they give them vs how they treat veterans, you'd think they like the dead soldiers a lot more
  
  Well obviously, a dead soldier is a cheap soldier, an injured soldier is an expensive soldier, a crippled soldier is even more expensive.
  
  Sorry to be blunt, but that is how it is.
- They're treated as pawns on the board, nothing more. There's a reason why so few politicians have their kids in the military.
We need more patriots like Jon. He forces questions to the system of power and also uses his power to help those who serve that same system. I worry he's a dying breed.
Just remember the DoD have the troops and get all the budget money, the VA have the veterans that don't get shit! If the DoD budget didn't have to go up every year then maybe we could actually have money for other things.
Oh look, another fight for them to inevitably lose as soldiers die waiting....awesome.......

16 comments