First of many studies of long care cost veterans for Bush's Lies

[Monkeyman]

There is no link it was sent to me by a Vet at Harvard. The is the executive summary done by Kennedy School of Government Harvard University. Give you and idea of what Bush's Lies will cost.

This paper analyzes the long-term needs of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, and the budgetary and structural consequences of these needs. The paper uses data from government sources , such as the Veterans Benefits Administration Annual Report. The main conclusions of the analysis are that:

(A) The Veterans Health Administration is already overwhelmed by the volume of returning veterans and the seriousness of their health care needs, and will not be able to provide a high quality of care in a timely fashion to the large wave of returning war veterans without greater funding and increased capacity in areas such as psychiatric care;

(B) the Veterans Benefits Administration is in need of structural reforms in order to deal with the high volume of pending claims; the current claims process is unable to handle even the current volume and completely inadequate to cope with the high demand of returning war veterans;

(C) the budgetary costs of providing disability compensation benefits and medical care to the veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan over the course of their lives will be from $350- $700 BILLION,depending on the length of deployment of US soldiers, the speed with which they claim disability benefits and growth rate of benefits and health care inflation.

Key Recommendations include: increase staffing and funding veterans medical care particularly for mental health treatment; expanding staffing and funding for Vet Centers and restructure the benefits claim process at Veterans Benefits Administration.

Guys you know I fight for Veterans honest opinion I do not know how we can pay for these lies by Bush. This paper was done this month after two year study. My God what has Bush done to us.

[Joe for Clark]

1. Hi Monkey -

My understanding was 700 billion JUST for mental health aspects. PTSD.

And I think we both know just how well the VA is doing now without this new inflow of vets!!

I think they are so totally screwed.

Joe

[Monkeyman]

3. Yes PTSD and other Mental Problems

The New Figure in not one out of four its now one out of two with major mental problems.

[Joe for Clark]

4. I can't even imagine the real cost - those are our

kids that are going to pay this price. These people should be so ashamed.

Joe

You take care Monkey!!

[Monkeyman]

5. You too Joe

I cannot see how we can pay for this at all.

[Jim Warren]

2. Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz

from Columbia U. has figured the Iraq war costs to end up at $2.3 Trillion.

He also goes on to say 1/4 of that would fund Social Security for 75 years.

[Joe for Clark]

6. I believe that.

And I know - the dollars it is going to cost mean so little in comparison to lives of the kids and their families that are forever destroyed. Lives that should have been lived.

You know - I fully understand that there can be a war that is necessary - sometimes, there is a World War II that just has to be fought - rarely.

But for gods sake, the country has to collectively make the decision that any war rises to such a necessary level - all of us - and short of that, we don't do it.

Joe

[Monkeyman]

7. These troops are in deep shit for sure

[Phrogman]

8. What does the VA pay for PTSD?

Does anyone know?

[Monkeyman]

9. Depends on your state Mass. is one of the highest IL lowest