Veterans, all of which have fought for our country and for the better interest of the people, deserve more recognition and more help than is given to anyone else. Regardless, this remarkable group of warriors is more often than not cast aside like yesterday’s news. They are routinely overlooked and are seen more as a burden than those who fought for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. There is no better example of this negligence than the veteran health care system set up by the V.A. or the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Not only are their procedures flawed, but the problems have been brought to light and not been fixed. Veteran health care needs to be improved. So, what’s wrong with the current system? To start, there are frequent …show more content…
If there’s something the V.A. has a long history with, it’s neglect. The very people that the facility is supposed to make feel welcome and serve to the best of their ability are most often the victims, sometimes repeatedly. Workers routinely keep patients on hold for extended amounts of time, whether it’s for a good reason or just convenient for them. If an employee wants to catch up on a book while a client is waiting on the phone, they face scarce chances of punishment (Hegseth). This has led to several scandals in the V.A., many in the last few years. The facility’s been charged with data manipulation and overall negligence, changing the scheduling of appointments already made, then lying to whoever set them up. Though this is bad in itself, the workers responsible for these illicit actions aren’t even taken aside to be punished the majority of the time (Katz). In its defense, Randy Noller, the V.A. spokesperson, released a statement that said his agency is “‘...committed to continued improvements and monitoring of [patient data manipulation] and other issues to improve the VA care, benefits, and experience for veterans’…” (qtd. in Katz). A place like the Department of Veterans Affairs should be the last site of deception. Scandals and the laxity that comes with them regarding the maltreatment of American soldiers is disgusting at the very least. Of all the problems the government should be able to own up to, veteran health care difficulty is at the top of the list. Lies and deceit without discipline only lead to more of the