A Chattanooga veteran of the Vietnam War said, “No one has fought harder for our active duty military and our veterans than Marsha Blackburn. We need to elect her to the Senate because the issues with the VA are far from solved.”
Terry Thomas wrote a column for the Times Free Press supporting Republican Marsha Blackburn in her U.S. Senate campaign against Democrat Phil Bredesen.
“I served in combat on the rivers in Vietnam with the U.S. Navy, and now I serve my fellow veterans as the quartermaster of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1289 here in Chattanooga. We have about 400 members, all of whom have served our country faithfully over the past several decades.
“Too often, our members find themselves unable to receive the care they need — the same care they have earned and were promised. Your heart will break hearing about what our veterans have to go through to get care from a dysfunctional Veterans Administration. President Trump is working to make the necessary changes that the Obama administration put off for too long, but he cannot do it alone. He needs senators and congressmen who are willing to work with him to get the job done. That’s precisely why I joined with a 1,000 veterans across the state in a coalition in support of Marsha Blackburn.”
Thomas detailed the challenges that Chattanooga veterans face in having to drive to Nashville for treatment and the many delays they face in receiving care. Trump signed he VA Mission Act to give veterans greater choice about how and where to receive treatments, he said.
Thomas said one of his reasons for supporting Blackburn is her support of President Trump. Blackburn (R-TN-07) on Tuesday released a campaign video touting Trump’s endorsement of her at a May rally in Nashville.
Thomas, a resident of East Brainerd, served four years in the U.S. Navy and spent one of those years in Vietnam. He also served as a Tennessee state trooper for 32 years. He has been the quartermaster at VFW Post 1289 in Chattanooga.
The only measure that will improve health care outcomes for our fellow veterans is to establish a private insurance scheme that will allow veterans the choice of who provides that care and a concomitant reduction in the size and budget of the VA.
The VA has had its Choice program for years, and it is an even bigger mess than the VA itself. As for VA accountability, we’ve had just that since 2015. The original proposals, one for the House and a companion bill in the Senate, was steadfastly ignored by congressional Democrats because it was sponsored by a Republican. Once a competing bill by Commissar Bernie was introduced, along with a vast increase in VA’s budget, it sailed though Congress.
Has treatment outcomes at the VA improved since then? Have delays in treatment been reduced? Hardly, and I say that from personal experience, just yesterday in fact. Instead, the VA just keeps putting lipstick on a pig and that has to stop.
As for having a Congressional advocate for TN veterans, the Chairman of the House Veterans Committee is Rep. Phil Roe, a physician and veteran himself, who represents the 1st District of TN. I’m much more inclined to trust a fellow veteran and physician, like Rep. Roe, than I am a career politician like Rep. Blackburn.
But even so, I return to the original point, there is no “fix” for the VA other than gradually eliminate it in favor of private care.