[HM2Viking]

Screening soldiers twice instead of just once in the months after they return from war zones may help clinicians catch more war-related mental health problems.
So says new research that suggests that repeat mental health screenings for soldiers can significantly improve both their mental health and their access to proper care.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Health/Dep...3860975&page=1 accessed today.

[CRNA2007]

Soldiers in wartime are already allowed VA access to mental health care providers.

Originally Posted by HM2Viking

Screening soldiers twice instead of just once in the months after they return from war zones may help clinicians catch more war-related mental health problems.
So says new research that suggests that repeat mental health screenings for soldiers can significantly improve both their mental health and their access to proper care.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Health/Dep...3860975&page=1 accessed today.

[HM2Viking]

Originally Posted by CRNA2007

Soldiers in wartime are already allowed VA access to mental health care providers.

Tell that to the family of this Marine:

A team of federal investigators will arrive today at VA medical centers in Minneapolis and St. Cloud to look into family claims that Marine veteran Jonathan J. Schulze was denied a bed for psychiatric care days before he committed suicide last month.

The Office of the Medical Inspector at the Veterans Affairs central office in Washington will conduct the investigation, said Joan Vincent, public affairs officer at the VA Medical Center in St. Cloud. Schulze hanged himself in New Prague, Minn., on Jan. 16. His father and stepmother, Jim and Marianne Schulze, said that days earlier, the veteran twice told VA staff workers -- at the St. Cloud VA hospital on Jan. 11, and over the phone on Jan. 12 -- that he felt like killing himself. VA officials, citing privacy laws, have neither confirmed nor denied that account.
http://www.startribune.com/462/story/972840.html

[HM2Viking]

See also:
Town is not alone. A six-month investigation has uncovered multiple cases in which soldiers wounded in Iraq are suspiciously diagnosed as having a personality disorder, then prevented from collecting benefits. The conditions of their discharge have infuriated many in the military community, including the injured soldiers and their families, veterans' rights groups, even military officials required to process these dismissals.
They say the military is purposely misdiagnosing soldiers like Town and that it's doing so for one reason: to cheat them out of a lifetime of disability and medical benefits, thereby saving billions in expenses.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070409/kors

[oramar]

Originally Posted by HM2Viking

See also:
Town is not alone. A six-month investigation has uncovered multiple cases in which soldiers wounded in Iraq are suspiciously diagnosed as having a personality disorder, then prevented from collecting benefits. The conditions of their discharge have infuriated many in the military community, including the injured soldiers and their families, veterans' rights groups, even military officials required to process these dismissals.
They say the military is purposely misdiagnosing soldiers like Town and that it's doing so for one reason: to cheat them out of a lifetime of disability and medical benefits, thereby saving billions in expenses.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070409/kors

They have had congressional hearings on this very subject. Some of the representatives were very sympathetic.

[HM2Viking]

[CRNA2007]

And you want government run health care for the rest of us?

Originally Posted by HM2Viking

Tell that to the family of this Marine:

A team of federal investigators will arrive today at VA medical centers in Minneapolis and St. Cloud to look into family claims that Marine veteran Jonathan J. Schulze was denied a bed for psychiatric care days before he committed suicide last month.

The Office of the Medical Inspector at the Veterans Affairs central office in Washington will conduct the investigation, said Joan Vincent, public affairs officer at the VA Medical Center in St. Cloud. Schulze hanged himself in New Prague, Minn., on Jan. 16. His father and stepmother, Jim and Marianne Schulze, said that days earlier, the veteran twice told VA staff workers -- at the St. Cloud VA hospital on Jan. 11, and over the phone on Jan. 12 -- that he felt like killing himself. VA officials, citing privacy laws, have neither confirmed nor denied that account.
http://www.startribune.com/462/story/972840.html

[HM2Viking]

The VA is a high performing medical system. Aside from that my post was a response to your claim that all soldiers receive mental health care. This article spoke to the need to assure adequate mental health screening. UHC has zip to to with the quality of care issue. My post spoke to the need to make sure that veterans are receiving the care that they need period.