Grassroots group releasing video to highlight need for more health care choice at the VA.
Arlington, Va. – Concerned Veterans for America (CVA) is releasing a video today with Marine Corps veteran Rick Disney telling his story of long wait times and inadequate access to care at the VA after he sustained injuries in service. The group is engaging in paid promotion of the video on digital platforms to raise awareness of the need to continue improving health care choices for veterans and reforming the VA.
In the video, part of CVA’s “My VA Story” series, Disney says he initially waited nine months for an appointment with a health care provider at the VA – only to be told his injuries did not qualify for treatment through the department.
Disney is a third-generation United States Marine rifleman and served with the 1st Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team (FAST) Company in Norfolk, Virginia. He served served during, and deployed overseas immediately after, the attacks of September 11, 2001 with Secretary of Defense (General) James Mattis. He currently serves as the Senior Field Director for CVA in the state of Florida.
Rick Disney provided this comment:
“I am sharing my story to bring attention to the veterans across this country who deserve the treatment they were promised when they signed up to serve. For too long, the serious problems plaguing the VA health care system have been met with stopgap solutions, but veterans deserve more. They should be able to find care for their injuries wherever they can get it, even if the VA denies them or puts them on an endless waiting list.”
CVA Executive Director Daniel Caldwell also had this to say:
“Empowering veterans to use their benefits inside or outside of the VA will allow them to find the best care in a timely manner. It’s time for Congress to pass long-term solutions to fix what ails the VA and provide the health care choices that veterans deserve.
“The current problem Congress faces is filling the urgent funding gap for the Veterans Choice Program into the new year. But then they must pivot to passing major structural reforms for the VA health care health system, and we look forward to working with lawmakers to bring them to veterans across the country.”
For more information or an interview, reach Chris Neefus at (703) 517-4504 or CNeefus@cv4a.org.
BACKGROUND
The video featuring Rick Disney is part of CVA’s “My VA Story” series, which highlights the experiences veterans around the nation have had with the department.
For years, CVA has advocated for substantial health care reforms at the VA. In CVA’s Fixing Veterans Health Care Taskforce, the group advocates that veterans should have the option to take their earned health care benefits and use them to access care at the VA or in the private sector.
The grassroots group recently thanked Rep. Lamborn and his cosponsors for introducing the Veterans Empowerment Act in the House of Representatives, which addresses many of the major concerns laid out by CVA’s task force. Read more here.