Veterans want faster service

Monday, Aug. 2, 2004 | 9:31 a.m.

RENO -- The Bush Administration is improving but it is still too slow in processing claims for benefits from war casualties, disabled military veterans say.

And those attending the 83rd national convention of the Disabled American Veterans & Auxiliary say they worry that benefits may be capped or cut.

Vice President Dick Cheney and Anthony Principi, secretary of veterans' affairs, sought Saturday to quiet the concerns of about 3,500 delegates at the veterans convention. Cheney told the group that the medical care budget for veterans has increased by 40 percent. And he said the waiting time for handling claims has been reduced by 70 days. He said the Bush administration inherited the backlog from the Clinton administration.

Principi said that millions more veterans are receiving benefits. And, he said, his proposed budget will go to near $70 billion, up from the present $65 billion this fiscal year.

He noted that the VA was building a new hospital in Las Vegas to take care of veterans who currently have to go to California for treatment, and the agency is opening up clinics across the nation to provide care closer to the homes of the veterans.

Alan Bowers, outgoing national commander of the DAV, told the convention he met with President Bush to request full funding for health care for the veterans -- and did not get it.

Bowers said Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., tried in the Senate to get full funding but fell 11 votes short of the required two-thirds majority. "We will continue our efforts," Bowers said.

Cheney, in his speech, got some of the biggest applause when he talked of the war effort and the drive against terrorism. He said the enemies of the United States now know that an attack on America will not go unanswered.

And he said the enemies of this nation must be vanquished.

But the treatment of the disabled veteran seemed to be the most pressing concern for many at the convention.

William Morgan, a Vietnam veteran from Zebulon, N. C., said claims for benefits were taking six to nine months to be approved a year ago. He said the time is shorter now but he would like to see a "turnaround in 90 days."

Morgan, a service officer for the DAV, also said he was concerned that the budget cuts would hurt veterans. "Everybody is getting axed. They've tried to spare us as along as they could, but they're capping disability amounts."

After the vice president's speech, Morgan said Cheney "said some things I wanted to hear." He said it was "good news" when Cheney said that the administration will continue to reduce the waiting time to process benefits.

Irvin Eddy, a veteran of Korea and Vietnam from Custer City, Okla., agreed that the processing of claims is getting better but there is still a backlog. He said the Veterans Administration is not getting enough money for care.

Eddy called the Cheney speech "pretty good" but added that the administration is still "dragging its feet."

Cheney said the administration has reduced the large backlog of claims by one-third and it will make further reductions by the end of the year. He said there are 194 new community-based clinics opened by the Bush Administration and that $1.5 billion has been allocated to modernize VA hospitals, many of them built during World War II.

"America will stand by you," Cheney said.

Robert Brent, a Vietnam veteran from Springfield, Va., said service to veterans has improved under Principi but it "is still not satisfactory. There is lots of room for improvement."

Brent said, "Everybody loves us when we go to war. When we go home we don't get much attention." He said there is a long waiting time to get into a VA hospital.

About 100 people protested outside the convention, complaining about the war and treatment of military veterans.

Asked whom the disabled veterans might support in the election, Brent said there are Democrats, Republicans and Independents in the organization so it was hard to tell.