Issue Position: Veterans Health Initiative

Issue Position

Veterans Health Initiative
My vision of the future for American healthcare involves covering everyone -- even veterans -- under a Medicare for All-style program. However, the VA would still have a role in veteran health in this system, transitioning to a focus on veteran-specific issues (prosthetics, chronic ailments related to battlefield injury, mental health and PTSD) and maintaining expertise in these areas.

Until that transition, there are still many ways we can improve treatment for our veterans, starting with easing the transition from TRICARE to the VA system through improved administration and enrollment.

Once in that system, we need to focus on increasing options and improving access, especially in rural areas, without succumbing to calls to privatize the program.

Improving Health, Increasing Options
The first thing we need to recognize is that providing for the health of our veterans is a moral imperative, and we need to fully fund a system that works to maximize veteran health.

In addition to funding the operations of veteran healthcare, we need to ensure that we're creating a budget that allows for proper research into issues that affect the veteran community in particular. Suicide prevention and PTSD/TBI treatment, long-term effects of battlefield-related injuries, exposure to substances unique to combat environments, and similar areas should be researched to find the optimal treatments, and the VA (in partnership with the CDC) is best equipped to do so.

Staffing needs to be improved. Salaries and benefits should be increased in order to fully staff and maintain best-in-class doctors and administrative staff. Clear metrics for success in each role should be established, and individuals who are not measuring up need to be let go. There also needs to be a push to hire doctors who specialize in treatment of women's issues, including sexual trauma, and issues facing our transgender veterans, as well as expanding options for these veterans to receive treatment outside of the VA system if they so choose.

On a similar note, we should investigate ways to improve and expand the Choice Act to lower wait times and expand access and increase the efficacy of our electronic records database to make it easier for veterans to find healthcare where they are.

Substance abuse treatment should be expanded, with more available treatment centers and long-term support, as helping with addiction issues will reduce many other issues for veterans (homelessness, unemployment, suicide). The same should be true for general mental health care.

In order to improve access and efficiency, many more GP centers should be opened, especially in rural areas, so that no veteran needs to travel a significant distance to see a doctor (the Choice Act can help with this, as well). If a veteran needs to travel to a specialized treatment center, transportation should be provided or subsidized.

Controlled Substance Exceptions
The scientific evidence that certain controlled substances -- particularly marijuana -- are particularly effective at treating certain ailments common to veterans (e.g., PTSD) and for pain management.

While I'm in favor of legalizing marijuana at the federal level, if that takes time, we need to provide waivers for veterans so they can receive this treatment, as well as prescribe it through the VA. This includes waivers and prescriptions for veterans residing in states that currently don't allow for personal use or medical exceptions for marijuana use.

We should also fund research into other controlled substances that have been shown to hold promise for treating PTSD and other diseases, and provide similar waivers and prescriptions should these other substances prove efficacious.

We owe it to our veterans to do everything possible to help them manage any health issues they have.

Ending Veteran Suicide
22 veterans commit suicide every day. That number is 22 too high, and I commit to decreasing it at least by half by the end of my first term as President.

Providing all other services to increase the stability veterans feel, and ensuring a successful transition to civilian life, should help decrease veteran suicide. But there's more we can do to combat this scourge.

Treatment doesn't work if its not sought out. 80% of veterans cite embarrassment or shame as a barrier to asking for mental health treatment. We need to combat this by destigmatizing veteran treatment. It can start with an initiative to identify high-ranking veterans who received mental health treatment to speak to these issues publicly, and it can continue with information provided during the Reverse Boot Camp.

We also need to increase the funding and reach of crisis lines to ensure that any veteran has immediate access to individuals who can direct them to mental health services, or to a mental health professional who can provide immediate counseling and treatment.

Finally, as gun suicide disproportionately affects veterans, we should provide free gun safes/storage for all veterans, which has been shown to significantly reduce suicide risk.

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