I never wanted to be a vet but in the words of a poet writing about a situation in another country about a war 50 years previous and a draft that fueled a supply of bodies: "They gave me a tin hat, and they gave me a gun, and they sent me away to the war." Credit: Eric Bogle.
I've been a consumer of the VA healthcare system for close to twenty years and have seen its ups and downs. Some of the services offered are "means tested" to limit availability to folks that are determined to have "enough" money. Because I was awarded a Purple Heart during my service time, those tests don't apply in my case. My first experience with them involved getting a set of hearing aids. I inquired about such, to a clerk at a VA facility and a week later, I was told to visit a contracted audiologist, to be tested and fitted with a state of the art set of aids. I visited a VA facility an a yearly basis, to have lab bloodwork drawn and a consult with a nurse and also a doctor who evaluated my health and state of mind. I had to pay for my prescriptions but the consult and labs were provided at no charge to me. Things progressed smoothly for a time. Then there was a push to let vets seek treatment in the private sector if help wasn't available at the VA. An ID card was issued with the understanding by some, that the card would let a vet go to any doc or facility and receive care or treatment. That was NOT! how it worked. Only care providers that signed on to the program could be seen, and only after the VA authorized it. It sorta worked for a while, because of the flush of patriotism during the Global War on Terror. There was a decent supply of providers and appointments were fairly easy to come by. I started noticing a shift in availability about six or seven years ago and mentioned it to my doc. He concurred. The citizenry doesn't like vets that lost their war and as it dawned on folks that we lost both Iraq and Afghanistan, the same thing that happened to Vietnam and Korean vets took place. Patriotism waned among the public and they started looking for ways to cut the costs. Still my healthcare needs continued to be met fairly smoothly until last year. Although I'm deemed to be eligible for a yearly eye checkup and new glasses every year, I've been stretching the time to every two years. Last year, it took several months to find a provider that was participating in community care and the glasses were off par but I used them anyways. I'm hoping that when I apply for a new evaluation, they will find another provider. I'm also a year and a half behind on having my hearing evaluated and being fitted for new aids. The biggest problem I'm having is with my yearly health checkup and doctor consult. The last time I spoke with a doc and he went over my labs with me was in May of 2025. I've since had three appointments scheduled, only to be canceled at the last minute and then re-scheduled. I understand that appointment staff at the VA are being threatened and harassed by vets who are frustrated by the same thing I'm experiencing. VA had been pretty much fully staffed and keeping appointments but since early 2025, there has been a mass exodus of doctors and providers at the facilities, so it's pretty lousy now.