A recent question for my radio spot was: “According to one estimate, nearly 40 percent of the 700,000 troops involved in the first Gulf War now qualify for disability. Do you feel enough is being done to accommodate the much larger number of war-related disabilities that will come from Iraq and Afghanistan?”
That seems like a big number. That is 280,000 people. I have not been able to confirm it, but whatever the number is, there is an amazing thing about veterans’ health care. In spite of all the horror stories we heard about Walter Reed Hospital, in spite of all of the cutbacks in veterans health benefits, veterans are the most satisfied group of people with their health care system in America. I think that tells us two things. First, veterans are getting pretty good health care in spite of all of the bad publicity. Second, the rest of our health care delivery system is screwed up beyond belief. I know a guy who has a terrible form of blood cancer. He gets treatment from the VA. He lives hundreds of miles from where he can get treatment. The VA has a van that runs a route and picks up veterans and takes them to the hospital to get treatment, and then takes them home. Is this a great system? No. But you do not see a Blue Cross van, do you? He does not have to wait for approval to get his treatment. It is not denied while his cancer gets worse. Could we do better by our veterans? Of course. In fact, for what we spend for health care, we can do better by everybody if we pry the greedy fingers of the health insurance companies off the throat of the entire system.
Dugan Barr has practiced law in Redding since 1967. He has tried more than 200 civil jury cases to verdict. He is married and has five children. The offices of Barr and Mudford, LLP, are at 1824 Court St. in Redding and can be reached at 243-8008.
