(FOUNTAIN, Colo.)—With Memorial Day around the corner, U.S. Senator Michael Bennet made time to meet with local veterans for a roundtable discussion in Fountain on Saturday, May 24. The discussion focused on the VA and the benefits and treatments veterans are currently receiving. Most expressed their own issues they experienced.
“You can have a program that’s been around for 150 years, and it still has some issues,” said Travis Baker, the District Five Commander at the VFW in El Paso County.
Baker expressed his own problems and frustrations to Sen. Bennet in trying to get help, specifically focusing on just setting up an appointment.
“Scheduling appointments is a nightmare sometimes,” Baker said. “When you call and say, I need my annual checkup or my semiannual checkup, it can take you up to six or seven months.”
For some veterans, they cannot afford to wait months and need treatment or surgery sooner rather than later. For Baker, it has cost him money out of his pocket.
“‘I’ve been going through some health issues the past couple of weeks, and I’ve been trying to get my stuff taken care of, and I can get it done through the VA because they didn’t have any availability,” Baker said. “So, I had to go to the emergency room, and I had to pay to go to the hospital.”
Baker is not the only as several veterans who were at the discussion shared experiences of long waits between appointments, along with not getting a proper diagnosis that identifies what is wrong with them. Sen. Bennet tells FOX21 News it is frustrating to hear this
“It’s unacceptable that people in that room were saying, takes nine months to get in to see a heart doctor,” Sen. Bennet said. “It’s unacceptable that it can take years on end to get a diagnosis.”
Sen. Bennet believes this shows there is more work to be done in Washington, D.C., to make sure problems with the VA are cleaned up and veterans are getting treated sooner rather than later.
If you or someone you know served in the military and is looking for medical help or resources, click here to check out the resources offered by the VA.
“I think the only way we’re going to change that is by making sure that we’re monitoring the speed with which they’re being responded to and that we’re passing legislation to create oversight from Congress,” Sen. Bennet said.
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