Make Democracy Work

Published Wednesday, November 14, 2007 in Southeast Valley Opinions of the Arizona Republic as “Ray served his country, but VA isn’t serving Ray at all.”

In the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, 1,500,000 military personnel have been deployed. This is the story of one, Ray, but his experience likely speaks for tens if not hundreds of thousands more.

Much attention has focused on the 28,000 who have been wounded in action, especially the 3,000 of who have been severely injured, including traumatic brain injuries, amputations, severe burns, blindness, and paralysis.

Ray lives in the Southeast Valley and requested that I only print his first name. Most veterans, like Ray, return home and by outward appearances might appear unharmed. But they’ve been through extreme stress that in the civilian world we can’t fathom—day after day, being on the edge, not knowing when or if they might be shot at or blown apart. The extreme temperatures and heavy body armor make it virtually impossible for soldiers to stay hydrated. Continual dehydration stresses the body’s organs, and in Ray’s case has led to a debilitating case of kidney stones.

Ray, a veteran of the Gulf War, was activated after 9/11, spent 6 months in Afghanistan and was then deployed for a year and a half in Iraq with the Marines. He’s been back in Arizona since Christmas 2005. In those two years, he’s dealt with 15 kidney stones, been through five jobs, and gone from having an income in excess of $100,000 as a sales manager at a dealership to an unsteady $20,000 where his frequent job losses often force him to move when he can’t pay the rent.

He’s been forced to sell his car and his former home and now gets around in “a $600 car with no air conditioning.” He tells me, “if it wasn’t for the support of people from my church I’d be homeless.”

When I talked to Ray last year, he couldn’t get the VA to treat his kidney stones; they’d give him a bunch of narcotics to dull the pain, but if he took them he couldn’t function. Every time he’d pass a stone, he’d be so incapacitated that he couldn’t work.

His challenges continued this year. One month he showed up at the VA emergency room eight times. Each time they gave him “a bag of drugs” and sent him home.

Genie Zavaleta, a retired counselor, called on his behalf. Members of his church called. No progress. Zavaleta next prodded Senator McCain’s Tempe office. Even Tom McAnna in McCain’s office got nowhere until he called a top administrator who finally admitted the VA lacked specialists and granted a referral for an outside urologist.

But the VA didn’t find a doctor for Ray. Ray tried and was turned down repeatedly because the VA pays little and is slow to pay at all. Zavaleta at last located a specialist in Scottsdale who ultimately administered an advanced treatment that dealt effectively with his kidney stones. For the first time since returning, Ray was pain free.

However, the VA didn’t pay. Ray started getting the bills. Without payment, the doctor’s office wouldn’t schedule a follow up appointment. Months later the VA paid up, but by then Ray was sick again. He’s now dealt with a low grade fever for 7 weeks from a urinary tract and sinus infection and pain from another kidney stone. His boss has been accommodating, but he’s missed another two weeks—and Ray doesn’t get paid for not working.

Meanwhile, going through the VA and the American Legion, Ray’s application for disability payments from the VA has been repeatedly denied. He recently discovered that his case workers all failed to adequately pull his medical records together-even though his records are from the same VA facility. Ray hears he’s best off getting a lawyer if he wants disability benefits. Imagine that, needing a lawyer.

Without this disability qualification, if Ray’s income exceeds $33,650 his access to health benefits through the VA will be in jeopardy except for ailments determined as caused from his service.

Many veterans I expect give up.

No American should have to tolerate such treatment, much less a veteran.

Dave Wells of Tempe serves on the board of Deep Democracy which sponsors Vets4Vets (www.Vets4Vets.us), a Tucson-based nationwide peer support group for veterans of the Iraq War. Contact him at Dave@MakeDemocracyWork.org.

Sources: Interviews with RayInterviews with Genie ZavaletaNumber of people deployed and injuries from Dole-Shabala Presidential Commission Report.
“Serve, Support, Simplify: Report of the President’s Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors” July 2007, p. 2.Income Limit test for VA benefits-news article. “Almost 2 Million U.S. Vets Lack Health Insurance,”

Note the above source understates the income threshold—as Vets can still access health care with incomes a bit higher up to 80 percent of area median family income for each size household.If Ray’s disability is denied, rated a 0 (done in 10 percent increments), then Priority 7 is the lowest priority (highest income eligibility) that would apply.Priority 7 (the last priority where one is eligible for benefits-as Priority 8 is no longer enrolling)http://www.military.com/benefits/veterans-health-care/va-health-care-eligibility Subject to geographic area limits:http://www.va.gov/healtheligibility/Library/pubs/GMTIncomeThresholds/AZ2006.asp$33,650 is the geographic means limit for a single individual in Maricopa County.Added details for Priority 7 (last which qualifies) http://www.va.gov/healtheligibility/Library/pubs/GMT/GMTandCopays.pdfEasy web site to determine enrollment classification: http://www.va.gov/healtheligibility/eligibility/PriorityGroupsStatus.aspNote: made numerous phone calls to try and verify that I was interpreting the information correctly at the web site The VA has a category of 0% compensable (as opposed to non-compensable) that appears in Priority 6 and seem to be limited to; WW I veterans; Mexican Boarder War veterans; veterans solely seeking care for disorders associated with exposure to herbicides while serving in Vietnam; or exposure to ionizing radiation during atmospheric testing or during the occupation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; or for disorders associated with service in the Gulf War; or for any illness associated with service in combat in a war after the Gulf War or during a period of hostility after November 11, 1998.Conversations with public information officer Paula Podine with the VA in Phoenix and benefits specialist named Ray (not the Ray I interviewed) determined that the VA will only pay for the kidney stones if determined that they were service related. The denial of his claim would likely mean they would be classified as nonservice related. And if his income exceeds the geographic limit, he wouldn’t be eligible for other heath care, if his disability rating is 0.