VA gets ‘F’ for Persian Gulf War claims approvals

Posted on March 15, 2016 by Team VCS

ARCHIVED TEXT SOURCE: https://www.armytimes.com/veterans/2016/03/15/va-gets-f-for-persian-gulf-war-claims-approvals/?utm_source=clavis

ARCHIVED TEXT:

Veterans

VA gets ‘F’ for Persian Gulf War claims approvals

The percent of disability claims approved by the Veterans Affairs Department for Persian Gulf War-related illnesses has declined steadily in the past five years, resulting in record lows, according to a new report from the advocacy group Veterans for Common Sense.

In the first two quarters of fiscal 2015, VA denied nearly 82 percent of claims filed by Gulf War veterans for two main conditions presumed to be connected to their military service — chronic multi-symptom illness and undiagnosed illnesses.

In 2011, the denial rate was 76 percent, Veterans for Common Sense director Anthony Hardie said.

The low approval rates, which “approach the limited odds of winning a scratch-off lottery,” are a “complete contravention of 1998 laws passed to improve Gulf War veterans’ ability to have their claims approved,” Hardie wrote in testimony to two House Veterans’ Affairs subcommittees Tuesday.

“If we measure VA’s success by how it has approved Gulf War veterans’ claims 25 years after the war, VA has failed most ill and suffering Gulf War veterans,” said Hardie, an Army veteran who served in the 1991 war as well as in Somalia.

“If we measure VA’s success by how it has approved Gulf War veterans’ claims 25 years after the war, VA has failed most ill and suffering Gulf War veterans” -Anthony Hardie, Gulf War veteran and Director, Veterans for Common Sense

Nearly 700,000 U.S. service members deployed to the 1991 Gulf War, and 54,193 have filed disability claims for illnesses related to their service, according to a 2014 VA report.

Roughly a fifth of those claims were granted, and of the denied claims 42 percent were approved for another condition other than a presumptive Gull War-related condition, according to VA.

To qualify for disability compensation for Persian Gulf War-connected conditions, veterans must have developed one of a number of infectious diseases during their service or have undiagnosed chronic symptoms or a chronic disability that began either during service or after.

Currently, the conditions must appear before Dec. 31, 2016, to an extent that they are at least 10 percent disabling, existed for at least six months and not be attributable to any other circumstance or cause for consideration.

But during a joint hearing of the House Veterans’ Affairs oversight and investigations and the disability assistance and memorial affairs subcommittees, veterans advocates pressed for an extension of the year-end deadline as well as improvements to the claims approval process.

Citing a recent report from the Institute of Medicine that found two conditions occurring in Vietnam veterans — bladder cancer and hypothyroidism — likely are linked to exposure to the defoliant Agent Orange more than 40 years ago, advocacy groups and members of Congress said the deadline should be extended for at least five years if not indefinitely.

“VA has repeatedly extended the end date … due to scientific uncertainty regarding the time period in which Persian Gulf War veterans have an increased risk of suffering from chronic illnesses. … Little has changed with respect to the level of scientific certainty. Due to this continued state, VA should again extend the date of presumptive service connection,” said Richard Spataro, director of training and publications for the National Veterans Legal Services Program.

A VA official said the department is taking the steps needed to extend the deadline but the process has not been finalized.

Dave McLenachen, acting deputy undersecretary for disability assistance at VA, also said the department is working to improve claims processing for Gulf War veterans but its own internal reviews indicate a 90 percent accuracy rate for claims decisions.

McLenachen added that VA has taken steps to improve and accelerate claims processing but he would return to his office to “see whether there was room for improvement.”

“I intend to look carefully at the testimony of the other witnesses and carefully consider their suggestions,” McLenachen said.

Rep. Mike Coffman, a Colorado Republican who served in the Persian Gulf War, pointed out that the claims process for Gulf War veterans warrants improvement since VA is failing to expedite claims designated as presumptive, a moniker that is supposed to accelerate the process, not delay it.

“I am disappointed that the law was passed that a specific set of conditions is supposed to be presumptive and the VA does not appear to be following the law,” Coffman said.

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Congressional Hearing to Examine Gulf War Veterans’ Claims Denials by VA

Posted on March 14, 2016 by Team VCS

HVAC to Examine VA’S Gulf War Illness Disability Claims Process

SOURCE: House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Press Release, March 14, 2016

WASHINGTON — On Tuesday, March 15, 2016, at 10:30 a.m. in room 334 of the Cannon House Office Building, the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittees on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs and Oversight and Investigations will hold an oversight hearing examining VA’s disability claims process for veterans afflicted with Gulf War Illness (GWI).

VA’s own data reveals that at least 80{cd9ac3671b356cd86fdb96f1eda7eb3bb1367f54cff58cc36abbd73c33c82e1d} of Gulf War Illness claims are denied. The data is specific to undiagnosed illnesses and chronic multisymptom illnesses – both presumptive conditions under current regulation. This data reveals apparent problems in VA’s interpretation of the law with regard to claims processing.

The purpose of this hearing is to evaluate VA’s disability claims process with respect to veterans suffering from Gulf War Illness.

The event is open to the press, with details as follows:

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Senators Demand Help for Military Borrowers Who Were Overcharged on Student Loans

Posted on March 4, 2016 by Team VCS

Murray, Warren, Blumenthal, Durbin Demand Help for Military Borrowers Who Were Overcharged on Student Loans

The senators’ letter follows an Inspector General report showing the Department of Education released statistically flawed information, papering over mistreatment of military borrowers

Years after errors surfaced, many servicemembers have not been refunded the money they were overcharged

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), the top Democrat of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Richard Durbin (D-IL), sent a letter to the Department of Education’s Acting Secretary, Dr. John King, following a report showing the Department’s initial review and subsequent materials it released on student loan servicers’ compliance with the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) were statistically flawed, inaccurate, and invalid. In their letter, the senators called on the Department to rescind its methodologically flawed reviews, conduct a full review of student loan servicers to determine how many servicemembers were denied interest rate caps for which they were eligible, and issue all military borrowers who were overcharged a refund for their money.

“For almost two years we have repeatedly sought assurances that the Department would conduct thorough reviews of all federal loan servicers to identify both how many servicemembers requested and did not receive the SCRA benefit and how many borrowers were eligible for and did not receive the SCRA benefit,” the senators wrote in the letter. “Ultimately, the Inspector General concluded that the reviews provide no useful information about how many servicers were unlawfully overcharged interest while on active duty. …The Department has the ability to correct this injustice and ensure that each servicemember is refunded interest rate overcharges for federal student loans incurred while they were on active duty. …When men and women in uniform serve our country, they shouldn’t have to worry about our government holding up its end of the bargain.”

SCRA requires companies to cap interest rates on student loans at 6 percent while servicemembers are on active duty, in addition to other protections. In 2014, allegations surfaced that the student loan servicer Sallie Mae, now named Navient, had been overcharging servicemembers on the interest for their student loans. In August, the senators requested the Inspector General to conduct an audit of the Department’s review and released a Warren staff report to raise concerns with the Department of Education’s response in identifying servicemembers who had been overcharged.

The full text of the letter is as follows:

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WASHINGTON FREE BEACON: Special Counsel Says VA Sought to Attack, Discredit Whistleblowers

Posted on March 1, 2016 by Team VCS

SOURCE: Washington Beacon, Alana Goodman reporting, Feb. 29, 2016

http://freebeacon.com/issues/special-counsel-says-va-sought-to-attack-discredit-whistleblowers/

ARCHIVED ARTICLE:
NOTE: The VA inspector general’s office did not respond to request for comment.

Special Counsel Says VA Sought to Attack, Discredit Whistleblowers

By Alana Goodman

The Washington Free Beacon

February 29, 2016

http://freebeacon.com/issues/special-counsel-says-va-sought-to-attack-discredit-whistleblowers/

Oversight officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs failed to properly investigate medical misconduct allegations at multiple VA hospitals and issued reports that attempted to discredit and attack whistleblowers, according to a review by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.

In 2014, the Office of Special Counsel asked the VA inspector general’s office to look into claims of “secret waiting lists” at two veterans hospitals after receiving whistleblower complaints. Employees at the facilities claimed veterans would often be forced to wait months or longer for appointments, but this information was kept outside of the VA’s official electronic records system so that administrators could dodge federal requirements and take home cash bonuses.

The VA inspector general’s office conducted two investigations, one at the Overton Brooks VA Medical Center in Louisiana and another at the Hines VA Hospital in Illinois. The office reported that it was not able to substantiate the allegations made by the whistleblower at Overton Brooks, and was only able to substantiate limited parts of the allegations at Hines.

But the Office of Special Counsel said Thursday that it found significant flaws in the inspector general’s reports after conducting a review.

“The OIG investigations that the VA submitted in response to both referrals are incomplete. They do not respond to the issues that the whistleblowers raised,” wrote Carolyn Lerner, the head of the Office of Special Counsel, in a letter to President Obama last Thursday.

According to Lerner, the VA inspector general’s office found evidence supporting the allegations that hospital employees were keeping separate lists of patients outside the VA’s official electronic system. But she said the office decided to focus its investigation on whether these outside lists were considered “secret,” under a very narrow definition of the term. Because employees at the VA hospitals knew about the lists, the inspector general’s office determined they were not “secret.”

The reports “do not met the statutory requirements and the findings do not appear to be reasonable,” said Lerner in the letter to Obama.

In addition, the Office of Special Counsel found evidence that the inspector general’s office had targeted whistleblowers in the cases.

Christopher Shea Wilkes, a social worker at Overton Brooks, said he was contacted by the inspector general’s office after he complained about the off-the-books waiting lists at the facility. He said he first thought the investigators were looking into his allegations but found out they were actually conducting a criminal probe into how he obtained the list and whether he had shared it with anyone.

The whistleblower at the Hines VA hospital, social worker Germaine Clarno, was also subjected to attacks, according to the Office of Special Counsel review.

“Finally, the content and the tenor of the report OIG prepared demonstrate hostility toward Ms. Clarno apparently for having spoken publicly, as well as an attempt to minimize her allegations,” the special counsel said.

Sen. Mark Kirk (R., Ill.), who has held hearings on misconduct at the VA and retaliation against whistleblowers, praised the Office of Special Counsel report on Friday.

“Veterans at Hines have waited over two years to finally learn the truth – schedulers maintained secret wait lists in order to receive cash bonuses,” Kirk said. “The OSC letter to the President shows another example of the VA culture – attack whistleblowers instead of protecting vets. This report is a victory for whistleblowers who risk retaliation, firing and even criminal investigation when they stand up for vets.”

Kirk said it was “long past time for the VA to conduct a real investigation into whistleblower allegations at Hines, determine how many veterans were harmed and if any died as a result of this scandal, and fire those responsible for covering it up.”

Clarno, who has been working closely with Kirk’s office on this issue, said she will continue to push for reforms at Hines despite the alleged retaliation from VA officials.

“Two years ago I went public to report secret wait lists and the gaming of wait times for veterans,” Clarno said. “I expected that I would be the target of retaliation and harassment at Hines but I soon realized the Office of Inspector General, the very agency that was supposed to help whistleblowers and bring to light their claims, would instead use the same tactics and work to discredit us instead of fixing the problems hurting veterans. I won’t be stopped by retaliation at Hines or even from the OIG, I will continue to advocate for our veterans with Senator Kirk until the VA is fixed.”

The VA inspector general’s office did not respond to request for comment.

###

Posted in Legislative News, VA Claims Updates, VA Healthcare Crisis Updates | Comments Off

Sick veterans in South Texas travel hundreds of miles for health care

Posted on February 27, 2016 by Team VCS

Four mornings a week, two vans with government tags and volunteer drivers make circuits of the Rio Grande Valley, picking up veterans for a five-hour trip to the nearest veterans hospital in San Antonio. For the best traveling and packaging tips for your trip, visit to Absolute Back Packers website. After packaging you need a best hotel with better facilities to stay, Go through Avalon Beach hotel blog and get all the details. To compare different beach for enjoying the vacation visit to forlorn britain website.

They’re a blessing and a sore point, these “vet vans.”

They’re free, and invaluable to those too sick to drive or who don’t have a reliable car. The veterans call weeks ahead to reserve a space, wait in parking lots with supplies of muscle relaxers and breakfast tacos, then bump along between numerous stops.

But these former military members question why a region with an estimated 45,000 to 80,000 veterans has no hospital to serve them.

“When you’re 75 years old, it’s just too much,” Dewain Manthey, who lost much of his hearing to machine gun fire during the Korean War, said of the 250-mile trip. “They’re just cutting us right out. It’s just a crying shame.”

His wife, Christine, said the 10 beds the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) recently commissioned at the nearby Valley Baptist Medical Center was an insult.

“They’ve already served the country, now the country needs to serve them with quality care,” she said.

Texas has 10 veterans hospitals spread across the state — Amarillo, Big Spring, Bonham, Dallas, El Paso, Houston, Kerrville, San Antonio, Temple and Waco.

The Rio Grande Valley along the U.S.-Mexico border has two outpatient clinics — one in Harlingen and one in McAllen. But they are so understaffed it can take three to six months for an appointment, said Emilio de los Santos, Hidalgo County veterans service officer. The Harlingen clinic refers patients to McAllen because of its long waits, he said.

Veterans who have no other health insurance get low-cost care and prescriptions at VA hospitals. Even veterans who can afford private insurance sometimes require VA expertise for their injuries. About 10,000 veterans in the Rio Grande Valley are enrolled for VA benefits. Source: https://www.moneyexpert.com/life-insurance/

In February 2004, a Department of Veterans Affairs commission said only 10 beds were needed for the Rio Grande Valley and the Coastal Bend, which includes Corpus Christi.

“The demand is not sufficient to justify building of a VA-staffed facility,” the report said, noting that veterans would be better served going to private facilities that might contract with the VA.

Amjed Baghdadi, spokesman for the South Texas Veterans Health Care System, said that the VA is reaching more agreements with local providers for care. Veterans can now go to two private clinics as well as the two VA clinics, he said.

Veterans waiting for the van said they would rather get their needs treated locally rather than endure the trip to San Antonio.

“The last time they came and got me in that ambulance from San Antonio just about killed me,” said Donald E. Warner, 73, who spent most of his life in a wheelchair since serving in the Korean War. “Left there on a stretcher all the way up there — it was really hard.”

In December, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison announced a new, 30,000-square-foot, outpatient facility for veterans would be completed in June 2007 amid a growing cluster of hospital and medical care facilities in Harlingen.

Local veterans said it was an improvement but not enough.

On a recent Sunday morning, Eugene Pilouw, 59, a diabetic, balanced his weight on two canes as he waited in the drizzling rain for the van. He was making the trip because a seam was loose on the special shoes he wears, though also planned to use the doctor’s visit for a heart test.

Pilouw said he was frustrated that he couldn’t receive treatment closer to home for such minor problems. He also complained that he’d already made two other trips for a colonoscopy — one for a consultation with the doctor, the second for the procedure.

“There’s got to be at least a dozen places where you can get that done here,” Pilouw said.

Baghdadi said some seemingly routine procedures couldn’t be outsourced — there could be complications due to wartime injuries or other diseases that require the specialized care of the VA physicians in San Antonio.

With each trip, the veteran cashes in an $8 dinner voucher and stays overnight at a motel the VA contracts with before going to an appointment the next day and then waits for the long return trip.

In November, South Texas veterans staged a six-day walk from the Hidalgo County courthouse to arrive at the Alamo on Veterans Day to bring attention to their plight.

Secretary R. James Nicholson told The Associated Press during a trip to San Antonio last month that the march prompted him to order a study of the needs of veterans in the Valley, which will include a new generation of veterans from Iraq.

Brownsville City Commissioner Ernie Hernandez, Jr. wrote Hutchison last month to suggest the use of a dormant 140-bed hospital in Brownsville. Hutchison forwarded the idea to Nicholson.

Jose Maria Vasquez, a 58-year-old Vietnam veteran who helped organize the veterans’ march, said South Texas has a long tradition of sending Mexican-Americans to the U.S. military, and it’s time for that service to be repaid.

“We’re the ones that give the most war contributions yet we’re the ones that are getting less,” he said.

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On Gulf War’s 25th Anniversary, VA Failing to Treat its Signature Injury

Posted on February 23, 2016 by Team VCS

ARCHIVED ARTICLE SOURCE: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/on-gulf-wars-25th-anniversary-researchers–veterans-say-va-failing-to-treat-signature-injury-300224315.html

ARCHIVED ARTICLE TEXT:

On Gulf War’s 25th Anniversary, Researchers & Veterans Say VA Failing to Treat Signature Injury

Congressional Hearing Marks Persian Gulf War’s 25th Anniversary with Sharp Criticism of VA Clinical Guideline and VA-Contracted Institute of Medicine Report

NEWS PROVIDED BY

Veterans for Common Sense

Feb 23, 2016, 12:12 ET

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Gulf War veterans and researchers of Gulf War Illness – termed the “signature” injury of the 1991 Gulf War in a recent government-sponsored report – will provide sharp criticism of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) during a Congressional hearing Congress on Tuesday, just hours before the precise 25^th anniversary of the 1991 Gulf War’s decisive liberation of Kuwait from Iraqi occupation.

The investigative hearing, entitled, “Persian Gulf War: An Assessment of Health Outcomes on the 25^th Anniversary,” is being held by the U.S. House Veterans’ Affairs Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee on in Washington DC on Tuesday, February 23, 2016 at 4:30 p.m., in Room 334 of the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill.

At the hearing, veterans and researchers will dissect VA’s current research and treatment efforts related to Gulf War Illness, the “signature” injury of the 1991 Gulf War according to a new report by the Institute of Medicine.

According to the House Veterans Affairs Committee, “Twenty-five years after the Gulf War, concerns persist that there has been little improvement in understanding the war’s signature injury, Gulf War Illness (GWI) or how to treat or manage it. There are a number of reasons for this, including VA’s frequent characterization of GWI as psychological malady and VA’s clinical guidelines that recommend the use of psychotropic drugs for many GWI symptoms.”

Gulf War veteran Anthony Hardie, a national leader on Gulf War veterans’ health issues and Director of Veterans for Common Sense (VCS), will testify before Congress on Tuesday, February 23, 2016 at 4:30 p.m., just hours before the precise 25^th anniversary of Operation Desert Storm’s ground war that decisively liberated Kuwait from Iraqi occupation.

Hardie describes a new VA-contracted research report as, “‘rolling up the sidewalk’ on a promising avenue of Gulf War Illness research, just when it is beginning to unravel the underlying biological mechanisms of Gulf War illness and point to treatment targets,” and a new VA Gulf War Illness guide for physicians that fails to include actual treatments, “another example of VA’s systemic research failures.”

Hardie will be joined by David Winnett of New Braunfels, Tex., a former U.S Marine another national Gulf War veteran leader who runs a 10,000-member online discussion group for ill Gulf War veterans. Winnett will share a few of hundreds of heartbreaking perspectives of Gulf War veterans around the country for whom VA is failing to provide effective treatments for their toxic wounds of war.

Prominent Gulf War Illness researcher Roberta White, Ph.D will also testify. Dr. White is Professor And Chair of the Department Of Environmental Health at the Boston University School Of Public Health and Professor and Attending in Neurology (Neuropsychology) at the Boston University School Of Medicine. Dr. White was lead author of a 2014 government report that highlighted the serious impact of Gulf War Illness on nearly one-third of the war’s veterans. Dr. White will testify that, “recent recommendations from VA concerning the diagnosis and treatment of ill Gulf War veterans threaten the viability of the promise emanating from two decades of research.

Dr. White will be joined by James Binns, former chairman of the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses that has been a vocal critic of Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA) policies toward Gulf War veterans. Binns will describe a 16-year VA-contracted review of Gulf War veterans’ health, “a house of cards,” and explain how, “these same corrupt practices have been employed to deny the effect of toxic exposures from burn pits to the health of recent Iraqand Afghanistan veterans.”

The hearing will last about 90 minutes. Gulf War veterans and Gulf War Illness researchers will be on hand and available to take questions from the press following the hearing.

Congressional Hearing website, with testimony uploaded following hearing: http://veterans.house.gov/hearing/persian-gulf-war-an-assessment-of-health-outcomes-on-the-25th-anniversary

SOURCE Veterans for Common Sense

VCS Testifies at Congressional Hearing on Gulf War Veterans’ Health, timed for Gulf War 25th Anniversary

Posted on February 23, 2016 by Team VCS

Veterans for Common Sense provided the following invited testimony for a February 23, 2016 Congressional hearing on Gulf War veterans’ health. Anthony Hardie, VCS Director, testified and was accompanied by fellow Gulf War veteran and advocate David Winnett. Winnett’s compelling statement for the record is below, immediately following Hardie’s.

The hearing was timed to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the 1991 Gulf War ground invasion to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi military occupation.

The full text of Hardie’s and Winnett’s testimony is as follows.

House Hearing archive: https://docs.house.gov/Committee/Calendar/ByEvent.aspx?EventID=104497

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Posted in Gulf War Updates, Legislative News, VCS Congressional Testimony, VCS In The News, Veterans for Common Sense News | 3 Comments

VCS to Testify Before Congress on Gulf War Veterans’ Health on War’s 25th Anniversary

Posted on February 23, 2016 by Team VCS

WASHINGTON — On Tuesday, February 23, 2016, at 4:30 p.m. in room 334 of the Cannon House Office Building, the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations will hold an oversight hearing examining the medical care and treatment VA provides to veterans afflicted with Gulf War Illness (GWI).

Twenty-five years after the Gulf War, concerns persist that there has been little improvement in understanding GWI or how to treat or manage it. There are a number of reasons for this, including VA’s frequent characterization of GWI as psychological malady, VA’s clinical guidelines that recommend the use of psychotropic drugs for many GWI symptoms, and the potential influence of drug manufacturers who may have employed or sponsored some of the authors of the clinical trials on which VA’s clinical guidelines are based.

The purpose of this hearing is to evaluate VA’s treatment of – and current health outcomes for – Veterans suffering from Gulf War Illness.

The event is open to the press, with details as follows:

Continue reading →

Posted in Gulf War Updates, Legislative News, VCS In The News | 1 Comment

VCS: IOM Gulf War Report “Turns Science On Its Head,” Researchers Say

Posted on February 11, 2016 by Team VCS

WASHINGTON, Feb. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ –– Gulf War Illness is the “signature” health problem of 1991 Gulf War veterans, affecting an estimated 24-33{cd9ac3671b356cd86fdb96f1eda7eb3bb1367f54cff58cc36abbd73c33c82e1d} of the nearly 700,000 who served, according to a new report of the Institute of Medicine, but researchers say its recommendations, “turn science on its head.”

“The previous IOM report correctly concluded that the illness is not psychiatric and likely results from the interplay of genetic and environmental factors,” said James Binns, former chairman of the federal Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses. “This report turns that science on its head.”

“This report recommends stopping research on the health effects of Gulf War exposures and focusing instead on ‘mind-body interconnectedness’,” said Gulf War veteran Anthony Hardie, who chairs a treatment research program funded by Congress. “It’s the same old government theme from the 1990’s to deny what happened and deny care and benefits — just when research to understand the illness and identify treatments is finally making real progress.”

The report noted two studies showing an increased risk of brain cancer mortality associated with the wartime demolition of a vast Iraqi chemical weapons depot at Khamisiyah – one conducted by the IOM itself – but then concluded this evidence was “insufficient/inadequate.”

“This is a profoundly sad message for Gulf War veterans with brain cancer and their widows who can’t currently get benefits from VA,” said Hardie, who also serves as director of Veterans for Common Sense.

“IOM committees should not be made up of former VA officials and their friends,” said Rick Weidman, Executive Director for Policy and Governmental Affairs for Vietnam Veterans of America. “It’s outrageous that the VA Undersecretary from the 1990’s who began the policy of minimizing Gulf War Illness was on this committee, or that the committee chair was on record before she was appointed saying you can’t say what caused it. Half the committee was psychiatric advocates. It’s exactly how the effects of Agent Orange were denied for thirty years after Vietnam. We intend to seek legislation to prohibit these corrupt practices.”

“The science is unequivocal, if viewed honestly and in its totality: Toxic exposures were responsible,” said Dr. Beatrice Golomb, Professor of Medicine at the University of California-San Diego and former scientific director of the Research Advisory Committee. “But the IOM doesn’t look at all relevant studies. This ‘don’t look, don’t find’ practice has been a consistent problem in IOM Gulf War reports.”

“Veterans who were more exposed to chemicals – particularly pesticides, PB (a nerve agent pretreatment pill), and perhaps nerve gas — are more likely to be ill, and to have more severe illness. Moreover, exposure to related chemicals in civilian settings has produced similar chronic health problems,” said Dr. Golomb.

***

EDITOR’S NOTE: Other versions of this story appeared in:

Military.com, “Panel to VA: Stop studying causes of Gulf War illnesses, focus on treatment”: http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/benefits/health-care/2016/02/11/panel-va-stop-studying-causes-gulf-war-illnesses-focus-treatment/80225672/
Bradenton Herald, “New study on Gulf War illness assailed by veterans advocates”: (http://www.bradenton.com/news/local/article59753511.html)

Posted in Gulf War Updates, Legislative News, VCS In The News | 2 Comments

How For-Profit Colleges Hoodwink the G.I. Bill

Posted on January 9, 2016 by Team VCS

Source: Affordable-Online-Colleges.net

Veterans for Common Sense actively supports common sense efforts to regulate G.I. Bill use at for-profit schools. Contact us at info@veteransforcommonsense.org .

Posted in Uncategorized, VCS Fact Sheets and Reports | Tagged For profit colleges | Comments Off

Veterans for Common Sense