NORFOLK, VA — Congresswoman Elaine Luria today issued the following statement after VA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a troubling report on Military Sexual Trauma claims within the Veterans Benefit Administration.
“The findings released today by the Veterans Affairs Office of the Inspector General are chilling and a devastating reminder of VA’s inability to grapple with the issue of Military Sexual Trauma (MST). Almost three in five MST claims were not processed correctly and previous recommendations from 2018 have not been fully implemented. These claims are often the gateway for MST survivors to access high-quality medical treatment in addition to other benefits the VA provides. As Chair of the Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs Subcommittee, we will pursue the much-needed reforms and oversight that VA has repeatedly failed to implement.”
Paul Plante says
Sounds like a serious mis-management issue in the office of Joseph Biden, the man in charge, to me, the same Joe Biden who closed our local VA clinic here to the north of you and left us with no healthcare so he could save the rent to care for his beloved illegals.
J Wheaton says
Obviously, you didn’t look at the dates of the study. Maybe you should make sure the target is in the crosshairs before pulling the trigger Paul.
Paul Plante says
J Wheaton says
AUGUST 8, 2021 AT 12:32 PM
And obviously, J Wheaton, you didn’t look at the date of the POST, AUGUST 8, 2021, which is what is relevant here, given that the congresswoman is making an issue of it today, not three years ago in 2018, which would be absurd.
What she is clearly saying is that a very serious problem identified three years ago still persists, this despite “CORN POP” Biden’s statement in his address to a joint session of Congress on 28 April 2021, to wit: We’re making one of the largest one-time investments ever in improving health care for veterans.
Yeah, right, “CORN POP!”
How to sling the ****!
So, J Wheaton, it is you who should make sure the target is in the crosshairs before pulling the trigger, and dude, before you make a fool out of yourself again, because you seem nice, try to reason your way through these things before you spout off in ignorance of reality and make a fool out of yourself before millions of at-home viewers who hang on your every word!
Paul Plante says
Said another way, J Wheaton, Tump isn’t president, anymore.
Pursuant to our Constitution, a peaceful transfer of power took place on 20 January 2021, and Joe Biden is president now, and so any issues with the VA today are his problem, not Trump’s.
J Wheaton says
You’re a senile old bat aren’t you. The report was release 8/5/2021, so you might understand why she commented now. The actual study was done under Trump which reflects his administration.
Lol, how does Biden know about the results in April when the the report is released in August. You’ll howl at anything won’t you. Shame you don’t have the balls to actually do something other than complain.
Paul Plante says
HUH?
Shame you don’t have the balls to actually do something other than complain?
What a truly bizarre statement!
Paul Plante says
You’re very slow on the uptake, aren’t you, J Wheaton, which is indicative of some serious cognitive issues that you should seek some intervention with, but despite that, and you’re being inclined to run off at the mouth before engaging your brain, you seem nice and well-meaning, at least on the surface, for as the saying goes, who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men, not saying you have any, you understand, the point of the exercise is that regardless of what date the report is, pursuant to our Constitution, a peaceful transfer of power took place on 20 January 2021, and Joe Biden is president now, and so any issues with the VA today are his problem, not Trump’s.
And for the record, under Trump, I had access to healthcare in a satellite office that did not require me to have to find transportation into a city not near my home and waste a couple of hours or more in transit time, and now under Joe Biden, who came down with what is being said in his defense for avoiding military service during the VEET NAM years the most serious case of asthma the medical profession could ever recall seeing, that is gone, along with my access to healthcare I enjoyed under Trump, and what on earth does the date of the report have to do with anything, besides nothing?
See, this is where your inability to reason things through leaves you looking not only silly but kind of petty with the name-calling and snippy, as well, which spoils your image in their eyes of you as a really nice guy deep down, anyway.
If the congresswoman wants accountability, that starts with Joe Biden.
J Wheaton says
Shall I go over all the issues that Trump failed to address? Should we start with Covid? Failure to take the pandemic seriously, failed to protect unemployment during it, gutting the CDC. shall I go on? Since the study was just published you think maybe wait a month or two? Nope not you.
And I like the classic Paul Plante redirect – praytell what does access to a VA healthcare center have in common with Military Sexual Trauma Claims. Need to make it something about you, don’t you.
Oh, by the way can you tell me what rank Trump reached in the military?
Paul Plante says
TEDIOSITY.com is what you are, J Wheaton, with this obsession you clearly have with Trump, who is no longer the president of the United States of America, and has not been the PEACEFUL TRANSITION OF POWER on 20 January 2021.
And Trump, like Joe Biden and Bill Clinton and Charley “Chuck” Schumer, was never in the military, and I do not believe that there is anyone in America who was not aware of that reality.
While Joe Biden contracted a serious dose of asthma that kept him out of harm’s way, Donald Trump, and this is a matter of public record backed up by medical evidence, had a real serious case of bone spurs that made it about impossible for him to march in a military formation, or slog through the mud of VEET NAM as an 11 Bravo grunt!
So like Joe and Charley “Chuck” and Bill Clinton, T rump got to stay back home to comfort the women.
And with respect to Joe Biden, who happens to be the man in charge now, let’s go back to Paul Plante says @ AUGUST 9, 2021 AT 4:40 PM, to wit:
If the congresswoman wants accountability, that starts with Joe Biden.
end quotes
Do you actually dispute that?
Do you think it is Trump who is accountable for what is happening at the VA today?
Paul Plante says
And no, J Wheaton, despite your obsession, this is not about me, at all, other than like these women, I have been deprived of my access to VA healthcare because Joe Biden, who announced to the world in his address to a joint session of Congress on 28 April 2021, “We’re making one of the largest one-time investments ever in improving health care for veterans,” and then in a cowardly fashion announced to the world on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, a time guaranteed that it would not be heard by many people, that he was closing the clinic to save rent money, and if you were not cognitively impaired as a result of a second-rate education here in America that left you devoid of the ability to reason things out and totally unaware of what is involved in making a claim in the VA system, you would know what access to a VA healthcare center has in common with Military Sexual Trauma Claims, because VA healthcare centers are how you access the system to substantiate a claim and get treatment, a grinding process that can take years, and which process is greatly set back by Joe Biden closing access to VA healthcare, not just for me, but to the other men and women who rely on the same facility, so he can save the rent money.
It’s not that hard to figure that out, J Wheaton.
Stuart Bell says
The females in the USCG during the 1980’S were most willing participants. 9 females out of 10 initiated the contact.
J Wheaton says
You probably heard that through friends and not first hand accounts
Stuart Bell says
Bless your heart…
Crackers says
Oh, by the way can you tell me what rank your ignorant a$$ reached in the military?
Paul Plante says
And since J Wheaton has so graciously brought before us the salient existential question of what access or lack of access to a VA healthcare center has in common with Military Sexual Trauma Claims, let us without further ado take up the challenge and answer it with facts, to wit:
How do I file a MST claim?
To win an MST claim you will need the following:
* A Completed VA Form 21-526.
* Diagnosis of PTSD , anxiety, or depression from your healthcare provider.
* Nexus Letter/Independent Medical Opinion (see definition of “nexus” below) signed by your doctor.
* Evidence.
end quotes
And here, let us go directly to this step of the process, to wit: Diagnosis of PTSD , anxiety, or depression from your healthcare provider.
And for a female veteran suffering from trauma, who is their healthcare provider likely to be?
If you answered, “why, gee whiz, let me see, it would be the VA, would it not,” and if you did answer that way, and knowing these women are veterans, why would anyone think otherwise, then one would think it would logically follow that Joe Biden closing a VA satellite facility to save rent would deprive these women of access to their healthcare provider, which would impede their ability to get care for their injuries, physical and psychic, as well.
And it would impede their ability to file a claim, which exacerbates, not diminishes, their stress level.
As to the rest of that process, we have:
How do you prove MST?
What Evidence Do I Need to Prove MST?
* police records and/or records from rape crisis centers.
* pregnancy tests or tests for sexually transmitted diseases.
* statements from your friends in service, family members, counselors, or clergy, or.
* journals or diaries that you kept at the time of the trauma.
And once again, a grateful nation extends its thanks to J Wheaton for bringing all of that to our attention, so we now all have a much better idea of what it is these women have to go through to have a successful MST claim, which in turn takes us back to the original post and the following statement of Congressperson Luria, to wit:
“The findings released today (8 August 2021) by the Veterans Affairs Office of the Inspector General are chilling and a devastating reminder of VA’s inability to grapple with the issue of Military Sexual Trauma (MST).”
“Almost three in five MST claims were not processed correctly and previous recommendations from 2018 have not been fully implemented.”
“These claims are often the gateway for MST survivors to access high-quality medical treatment in addition to other benefits the VA provides.”
“As Chair of the Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs Subcommittee, we will pursue the much-needed reforms and oversight that VA has repeatedly failed to implement.”