Over the last four years, the Biden-Harris administration has made it clear its priorities lie anywhere but with America’s military service members.
It was apparent in the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal that left 13 service members dead. It was obvious when the Department of Defense forced extreme DEI requirements on our troops and discharged service members who had legitimate concerns about taking the COVID-19 vaccine.
We hear it time and again with the White House’s rhetoric that now has us teetering on the brink of another World War — an event which would drag our sons and daughters into more foreign wars on behalf of interests that are not our own.
Which is why it comes as no surprise that the Biden-Harris administration is severely limiting veterans’ access to timely care. Access to community care is an essential health care option that can meet the various needs and circumstances for our veterans — especially those living in rural areas.
The Community Care Network allows veterans to seek care from a provider who may be closer to the veteran in proximity than the nearest Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facility, or who may have a shorter wait time than a comparable provider in the VA. It’s something that the brave men and women who have served our country need more access to, not less.
In fact, the VA has been systematically rejecting community care referrals over the last four years. It’s a concerted effort to force all veterans back into VA facilities for their care, regardless of the veteran’s preference, and despite serious staffing shortages at the VA.
This reduction in veterans’ access to community care has resulted in longer wait times for specialty care, and particularly behavioral and mental-health care. Given the high incidence of suicide among veterans and increased demand for mental-health resources, a reasonable person would assume that the VA would prioritize this type of care.
Sadly, this is not the case under the Biden-Harris administration.
Unfortunately for the administration, federal unions and their left-wing lackies, canceling referrals and limiting access to community care is illegal under U.S. law. In 2018, Congress passed, and President Donald Trump signed into law, the VA MISSION Act, which requires the VA to coordinate health care for veterans by using both the VA and community providers.
The VA must comply with four primary requirements under the VA MISSION Act: (1) ensure timely scheduling of medical appointments, (2) ensure continuity of care and services, (3) coordinate among regional networks, and (4) ensure that eligible veterans do not experience a lapse in care or an unusual or excessive burden in accessing care due to errors or delays by the VA or its contractors. The VA is failing veterans in all four categories.
The evidence on the ground is astonishing. Multiple sources within the VA have stepped forward with evidence showing that VA leadership is actively directing providers not to refer patients to community care. VA health care providers from across the country have reported incidents of the VA canceling referrals for community care submitted by VA providers.
Even the current Veterans Health Administration Undersecretary Shereef Elnahal is on record saying one of his goals is to reduce veterans’ reliance on community care.
Let’s be clear: when a veteran seeks care through the VA, the sole objective should be connecting that veteran with care as quickly as possible. Throwing veterans into an endless bureaucratic hellscape in no way improves the health of a veteran.
And ultimately, it decreases veterans’ trust in the system that was established to provide care for them in the first place.
I’ve heard firsthand from veterans and their families in Alabama about their experiences struggling with the Biden-Harris VA. The stories are heartbreaking.
The result is veterans feeling hopelessly abandoned with nowhere to turn. Our veterans shouldn’t have to deal with this level of disfunction and uncertainty — a direct result of the Biden-Harris’ left-wing vision for veterans’ health care.
The political agenda is alive and well at the VA, and their backwards policies have led to increased wait times, meaning veterans don’t have access to timely care. And because of the staffing shortages, some veterans don’t have access appropriate care when they are seeking specialty care for critical needs, such as mental or behavioral health.
As one VA provider pointed out, this delay in critical healthcare could put us on the path to a “mass casualty event.”
In the waning days of this administration, I hope President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will look back on their track record with our service members and realize they have failed them.
A “mass casualty event” should never be a concern for the brave men and women who have served our country. I sincerely hope the Biden-Harris VA changes course before that day arrives.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) was elected to the Senate in 2020. Prior to that he spent 40 years in higher education as a college football coach, including as the head coach at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama, where he coached for 11 years.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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