| Web Posted : 08/27/2003 12:00 AM
VA Secretary Anthony J. Principi said he is winning budget battles in Washington while struggling with growing demand for health care services.
Having a strong Veterans Affairs system in place will be crucial when the 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq return home, Principi told about 5,000 Veterans of Foreign Wars members Tuesday.
"Heroes will continue to emerge from wars of the 21st century," Principi told members at their national convention.
President Bush has asked Congress to fund a $64 billion VA budget that would take effect Oct. 1 — a 33 percent jump over a $48 billion budget in 2001, the fastest increase in the VA's history, Principi said.
A Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services (CARES) plan now being presented at public hearings seeks to streamline VA health care by closing older hospitals, including one in Waco, and building new ones in Orlando, Las Vegas and other areas where veteran populations have grown.
"By January, I hope to be able to adopt the plan or reject it in its entirety," Principi said before his convention speech.
"I'm not going to politicize it by saying, 'Well, this state is fine but this state is not so good.' I'm not going to pick and choose."
Veterans and others may express their opinions on the plan at a public meeting Oct. 1 at the Convention Center, from 8:30 a.m. to noon. A commission will forward recommendations to Principi, who could send the plan to Congress next year.
Among those likely to comment is Paul Gerth, a local veteran with a neurological disease. After 20 years in the Army, including tours of Europe and Korea, Gerth has had to endure a battery of exams by VA doctors to receive VA services, even though his records kept by his Army doctors were current, he said.
"They're sending people to see physicians when it's not necessary," said Gerth, who also fears that closing the Waco facility could make it difficult to get neurological and other specialty care.
"This could be an ever-present problem" that could affect veterans from Iraq, Afghanistan and other trouble spots, Gerth said.
The CARES plan and a broader set of goals released this week by the VA will help the nation embrace its returning veterans, said Principi, who has two sons who served in Iraq.
"We don't really know what's going to come out of the gulf yet," he said. "We don't know if there are any long-term effects to low levels of exposure to sarin gas. The National Academy of Sciences is researching that now for me.
"Remember the sandstorms. Those kids were breathing in a lot of sand, silica, maybe some pathogens," he added. "We don't know five years from now what might happen. We may get inundated with claims for chronic respiratory ailment."
The number of eligible veterans rose from 3 million to 25 million in the past five years as Congress extended eligibility to veterans with medium incomes and no service injuries.
To cope with the demand, the VA has tried to become less hospital-based and more centered on community clinics, private contracts and partnerships with the Defense Department to offer outpatient and in-home care and wellness counseling that could prevent serious ailments.
"I believe that the VA has come an awful long way," Principi said. "And I don't want to see it lose ground."
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Principi said he also has tried to streamline procedures. Last month, the VA relaxed a rule that had required veterans to see a VA doctor to get a drug prescription. Veterans who had waited at least 30 days to see a VA doctor were allowed to use a private doctor.
shuddleston@express-news.net
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