Response to Jeff on HR 6562, 6798, and 5892
Hi Jeff,
Thanks for your confidence.
In my opinion, we have the momentum going not only from Congressman Filner but a non-member of the VAC in Congressman Kagen, if all Veterans/Widows/Spouses/Offspring/and Friends of Veterans push the issues.
As I have said before, we are the experts in dealing with Veterans Affairs not Congress. So again, in my opinion it is we Veterans that must make Congress understand the difficulties Veterans have been facing including our widows. Therefore, in suggesting changes that they may or may not have considered is appropriate. Whether we will get all of it or any of it inclusive remains to be seen. While the VCM is a standard that VA should not be able to twist around against the Veteran it is still unknown to me. I do not think we have seen the entire devious side of Veterans Affairs and the collective power they have on behalf of the Executive Branch. Partially at fault for this is our Congress who assumed integrity in many of these issues of which there was none and giving VA too much power while allowing the opposite in nefarious dealings and what must be considered fraudulent activity by a federal agency.
We still do not know how long these bills will give VA to implement such new issues or if the VA on behalf of the Executive Branch will challenge in the courts and for how long, etc. Even if these bills are passed immediately my best guess is that thousands of Veterans will suffer and die uncompensated before the issues are resolved and the bills implemented in a common sense manner. I have been through this too many times to be overly optimistic.
There are many other issues I would like to see inclusive in mandates but at this time I think if we get what is written by congress at present and any of one of our additional suggestions added we are ahead of our 40-year struggle and may be the catalyst to get the other issues fixed.
For me it is hard not to add these issues of actual VA performance that is totally unacceptable but I am not going to at this time for fear of confusion.
For instance for the Herbicide Veteran/Widow
· The backlog of claims for medical decisions that do not require complex issues and the validation of only three data points taking months or even over a year is not justifiable by congress or anyone within the VA. Yet, our guys are dying while waiting on cancer claims that are presumptive now, much less the ones that will be added. Of course this saves the government millions of dollars a year when you look at the cumulative totals.
· This financial support that should have been granted within at least 30 days goes unrecoverable while the Veterans Family subsidized the government with their assets that may be minimum at best. Even if Congress gets the widows or widowers rule passed it still remains unclear as to how long VA can stall the Widow on an already presumptive claim. While yes, it probably will go back to the date she applied or if the Congress gets these bill passed it will not go back to the date the Veteran applied for a presumptive stage four cancer. This of course is a national disgrace.
· Now if HR 6798 gets approved this will add even more cancers that can be diagnosed at the Stage IV level and if VA stalls these presumptive claims again for months on end as they do now; then the support so desperately needed will still not be forthcoming in a timely manner to support the Veteran and his or her family at a most crucial time while fighting the cancer(s). This is inexcusable when compared to what SS can do for terminal ill citizens and non-Veterans. While this bill will at least give some solace to the family that the Veteran died in service to his country, while still nongovernmental recognized; the family will know he died by the hands of our own government while in military service.
· While Congressman Kagen’s bill will add many cancers there is still much to do in that respect. In fact the data shows that “any tumor or cancer” can be associated to the tumor promoting properties of dioxins, furans, and PCB exposures as it disturbs the homeostasis and confuses many of the cytokines, Interlukin, cellular growth factors, type of immune system response confusion (Th1 versus Th2 immunity) etc. Th1 cells drive the type-1 pathway (“cellular immunity”) to fight viruses and other intracellular pathogens, eliminate cancerous cells, and stimulate delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) skin reactions. Th2 cells drive the type-2 pathway (“humoral immunity”) and up-regulate antibody production to fight extracellular organisms. Over activation of either pattern can cause disease, and either pathway can down-regulate the other. But the hypothesis has major inconsistencies; human cytokine activities rarely fall into exclusive pro-Th1 or -Th2 patterns. The non-helper regulatory T cells, or the antigen-presenting cells (APC), likely influence immunity in a manner comparable to Th1 and Th2 cells; resulting in many medical issues or syndromes other than a malignant cancer including degenerating neurological disorders. Many of which can also disable and/or kill. The Th1 pathway is often portrayed as being the more aggressive of the two, and apparently, when it is over reactive, can generate organ-specific autoimmune disease (e.g., arthritis, multiple sclerosis, diabetes). The Th2 pathway is seen as underlying allergy and related IgE-based disease, and predisposing to systemic autoimmune disease. However, Congressman Kagen’s cancer bill is a start in the correct direction.
· Then we have this BVA fiasco and farce. You can have 10 claims approved within the BVA after the Veteran or widow fighting for over five years through all the gauntlets laid down by VA. Yet, you can have 12,000 claims at the VA that are identical to the same five year fight for a similar claim that must take place for no reason. Even within the BVA if you look at the 10 claims that are approved and then compare the 50 claims that were denied or remanded the data, situations and evidence are almost identical. The only difference seems to be possibly the claimant number. Of course, this makes no sense except to keep the backlog of claims artificially high at all times, stalling what the Veteran/Widow has earned by service to the nation. It makes no sense to me since all the data fields are computer searchable. Except to deny the Veteran/Widow his rightful benefits for “government caused” disability and death and deny the true cost of war and a horrific government screw up that should have been declared a government disaster. If 10 claims or so have been approved at the BVA and the VA has similar claims with similar evidence then the local VA should have the authority or “common sense” to approve the claim based on the BVA approvals. Yet this is not even considered. I asked Congressman Filner why this could not be done reducing the claims by at least 250,000 within a six-month period. There was no good answer but it seems counterproductive to pay these folks to deny claims that already have a proven track record of being approved at the higher legal authority. It just adds more and more misery to the Veteran Community, which VA seems to take extreme great pride in doing just that.
Now once the air is cleared and we see “if get if anything at all out of these bills” then the rest of the issues I think you are correct in presenting an Herbicide Veteran/Widow Reparations Act to be considered by congress covering many issues including what we know has been done and congress knew and did nothing to stop the use of Executive Branch command influence, scientific fraud, government protocol interference, changing of scientific medical conclusions by non-scientists before the reports were published, flawed assumptions making gold standard studies useless at the cost of 160 million dollars, the fallacy of the VACEH from 1979 – 1991 and the unknown levels and processes of associations used by IOM from 1991 to present that we do not know how we are being judged and juried and cannot address these unknowns as citizens of this nation that once proudly wore the military uniform of that nation.
If it comes to trying to get an Herbicide Veteran/Widow Reparations Act passed it would be my honor to put forth as much information as I can as to why this must be done.
Kelley