Op-Ed: How the VA has illegally denied healthcare to thousands of veterans (via latimesopinion)
A veteran with a fever and hacking cough that suggest a possible coronavirus infection tries to make a doctor’s appointment, only to be turned away by a receptionist who personally decides the would-be patient can’t see a physician.
Among veterans this refusal is based on what is known as having “bad paper.” The “bad paper” designation can be based on minor misconduct, such as being late to morning formation, showing disrespect to a superior or one-time drug use.Being turned away is an institutional shortcoming that can be easily remedied — not by an act of Congress, or time-consuming changes to federal rules, but instead through administrative corrective steps that can be taken at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Here’s how the denial of care happens. Veterans who receive other-than-honorable discharges — a designation applied tosince 1980 — can still qualify for VA healthcare and are legally entitled to individualized eligibility reviews and written notification of the determination. Though there should be consequences for military misconduct, they shouldn’t include an across-the-board denial of healthcare — especially if a person has a service-related disability, is experiencing homelessness or dealing with the effects of military sexual trauma or PTSD.
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