Another Health Care Issue -- the Veterans Administration

Here's an election issue just waiting for a politician to grab it.

This week, the Bush Administration acknowledged that funding for health care of veterans is short $1 billion. The shortfall was apparently just discovered during a midyear budget review.
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But how will struggling VA hospital survive with less money when despite budget increases in prior years, cutbacks in services were necessary. "About a year and a half ago, the Secretary decided there were not enough resources to treat every veteran who was coming to the VA looking for us to take care of their health-care needs," explains Wilkinson.

The cutbacks in veterans benefits have been huge. The vast majority of veterans get nothing -- absolutely nothing at all from the VA. We owe the men and women who laid their lives on the line for their country much, much more than that for which they are currently eligible. There is a vast constitutency that can be mobilized on this issue, especially as health care costs skyrocket. Now, which politician will pick up the ball and run with it?

Read it here.