Dear Editor,
An Open Letter re: the VA
As a staunch conservative republican I have for many years voted my conscience, supporting Senators Cruz and Cornyn. There exists today an obscure but important issue for conservative power brokers like them that I am surprised has not been capitalized on before: correcting the deplorable level of healthcare service American veterans of the armed services receive through the VA medical system.
This disgraceful state of affairs seems relatively recent (within the past 18-24 months), but it is not improving; it’s getting worse. When I was honorably discharged in 1960, earning at that time $126/month, a promised benefit was lifetime quality healthcare through the VA system. It is not there today. It is impossible for a veteran to directly telephone his primary healthcare clinic; calls are directed to a call center at a distant VA hospital via a series of menus, transfers, call-waiting holds, etc. It is easier to speak with a “live” person on the phone when calling Humana or the IRS than to effectively speak with a person at my Palestine clinic [when I do reach someone, she is invariably polite and helpful, however].
I have not been privileged to be treated there by an M.D. in over a year; I am assigned to a P.A, offered a nurse-practitioner, or given the option of a remote computerized zoom (video conference) session with a caregiver in another city. I neither signed up for nor expected second-tier medical care from my government. Veterans are entitled to what they were promised and justly deserve, and they don’t get it. I suspect that this problem is systemic nationwide; it’s a crappy way to treat American veterans.
I sincerely hope that Senators Cruz and Cornyn will take up and champion this cause; it will surely hit millions of nerves and ensure millions of votes.
God bless America!
El Sellers
Fairfield, Texas
