State cuts medical services for veterans

Message to any state wanting to balance their budgets off the backs of Veterans:
Stop acting as if the veterans are disposable! If you don't treat them right, then don't expect them to answer when the nation decides to get into another war.

What the hell is wrong with the people controlling the budgets when they decide to take a hacksaw to the veterans? Do they think because they are a minority in all states they are easy to take away from? It's more likely they have no conscience at all.

That's the biggest problem when men and women come home after serving the country, some after serving a lifetime of putting the country's needs so far above their own that they do it until they get too old to do it. What then? Do they suddenly become such a burden they are disposable and more of a problem than an obligation? Why is it they seem to be the ones always paying the price for what the rest of the nation gets to enjoy?

We get workman's comp but they have to not only wait in line for months or years to have their claims honored, and we just don't seem bothered by it at all. Yet we are still the ones waving the flags and letting congress shell out hundreds of billions of dollars to fund the war machine while the war weary fall into the abyss. We are also the same people screaming because the same members of congress what to cut things off that matter to us, knowing what it feels like to have what we need taken away, without ever once understanding we did nothing more than pay our share of taxes but they did that too and put their lives on the line as well.

State cuts medical services for veterans.
Reported by: Karen Hopkins
Monday, Feb 15, 2010 @10:23pm CST


People are outraged over putting a price on veterans’ lives.

The people, who put their lives on the line for the safety of our country, are losing medical services because of Louisiana state budget cuts. But a battle is brewing to keep the care our veterans say they so desperately need.

Nbc 6 reporter Karen Hopkins spoke with people outraged over putting a price on our veterans' lives.

“How can you put money over lives?" Nikki Hayward says state budget cuts could put her best friend's life at risk. Ruth stone is one of 147 residents at the Northwest Louisiana War Veterans home.

She served 21 years active duty army. After suffering a double stroke, she has no voice.
“That could be me in there, and then I’d be looking to someone else to talk for me."

Louisiana faces nearly a billion dollar budget shortfall.
A state streamlining committee looked at the efficiency of all agencies and made recommendations on cuts. In response, the Department of Veterans Affairs eliminated in house pharmacies and nurse practitioners in the state's 5 veteran homes to save $1.5 million. “The family members are concerned of all the changes, the pharmacy is a big issue,” Northwest Louisiana War Veterans home administrator Byron Hines says.

The pharmacy closed last week. The shelves are already empty. If veterans need emergency medication, they'll have to order from a local pharmacy at a high price. “For Ruth it's not too bad, but for others it could be devastating. They might not have the money."
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State cuts medical services for veterans