Essay On Veterans Health Care

While health policy may seem nebulous and difficult to grasp for some, we can see the actions that transpire from implementation of health care policy every day. An example of policy in action is the Department of Veteran’s Affairs. The Department of Veteran’s Affairs operates many programs that assist returning service members and service member leaving the military with different programs to ease their transition back into civilian life. The Department of Veterans Affairs also runs a health care organization that is inefficient and untimely in providing care, but often the only access to care for many veterans. This essay will attempt to review some of the current issues in veterans’ health care delivery, how policy relates and results in
According to the Veterans Health Administration (n.d) the Veterans Health Administration is the largest integrated health systems in the United States, providing medical care and medical services to over 8.1 million veterans annually through its network of over 150 hospitals and 1400 community outpatient health clinics. Given its immensity, large patient population and research and education branches, the VHA often has a large impact on health delivery and policy in the United States.
The moto of Veterans Affairs was spoken by Abraham Lincoln, “To care for him who borne the battle and for his wife and for his orphan.” The primary goal of Veterans Health Administration is to provide high quality healthcare for veterans. This means providing care both physically, through medical care and psychologically through the Veteran Health Administrations psychiatric and counseling programs. The Veterans Health Administration also provides both routine and surgical medical care to veterans. This can range from immunization, yearly physicals and laboratory work to more complex surgical
Treating these wounds, specifically traumatic limb loss, long term has become a more complex issue for the Veterans Health Administration. Berke et al, (2010) states that veterans of the more recent conflicts show great satisfaction with their provided prosthetics when compared to Vietnam veterans, there are still issues. Some these issues are institutional and not clinical. Kovach (2015) states that during the last inspection into the Veterans Health Administrations prosthetics clinics found financial mismanagement and warehousing of excessive amounts of equiptment that costs tax payers millions.
Currently the Veterans Health Administration has faced challenges ensuring that it patient population received adequate care on time. This issue was highlighted this past year locally, when the Carl T Hayden Veterans Medical Center was embroiled in a national scandal in which it was alleged that veterans died while waiting for care. While there have been changes on a local level to address this issue, on a wider and policy level the Veterans Health Administration and the United States Congress have implemented a temporary program to attempt to alleviate the long wait time that caused this