Sgt. Juan Jimenez returned from Iraq with two Purple Hearts, shrapnel lodged in his right arm, and brain damage incurred the second time he was struck by a roadside bomb.

“What Jimenez didn’t realize is that before he could receive benefits for his wounds, he’d have to prove that those wounds came from war. Three and a half years later, the sergeant is still making his case. The Department of Veterans Affairs isn’t convinced. And it won’t give him his benefits until it is.”  

This from the Nation’s report on the recent lawsuit by veterans challenging the VA’s system for processing claims.  The suit was ultimately unsuccessful, but it forced the VA to reveal its efforts to cover up the number of suicides by veterans waiting for care. (About 125 veterans are committing suicide each week.)  It exposed the burdensome bureacratic barriers to getting care for war injuries — and the extent to which the VA goes to deny claims.

(In Jimenez’s case the VA tried to blame his seizures and sleep disorders on an auto accident 21 years earlier.) 

The VA was also forced to disclose the statistical machinations behind its contention that the average time for processing claims was six months (noted here in April).  It turns out that average mixes disability claims with pension claims, which take much less time — some pension actions can be done in an hour.  It also excludes cases sent back to local offices by the VA appeals board — those are counted as new claims.

Until 1980, all veterans qualified for free health care.  Today veterans injured in war languish without care.  The most comprehensive solution:  Veterans groups here and nationally continue pushing to establish veterans health care as an entitlement, with full access without charge to all honorably discharged veterans.