Our Health Policy Matters

A newly released report found that hundreds of thousands of veterans experience excessive delays in trying to obtain mental health services from the Veterans Administration (VA).  This is especially sad to consider today, both because May is Mental Health Month and the President has just renewed our troop commitment to Afghanistan. William Hamilton was a 26 year old Iraq veteran when he died in May 2010. One of five siblings, he joined the army when he was nineteen. He experienced his first symptoms of mental illness while serving a tour in Iraq in 2005. He was diagnosed with PTSD and an anxiety disorder.  He was discharged honorably later that year and sought treatment at a VA Center. For four years, as his condition worsened, Hamilton bounced from one VA treatment setting to another.  In 2006, he was diagnosed with major depressive disorder.  Chemical dependency complicated his treatment.  He was hospitalized at the VA on several oc...

A newly released report found that hundreds of thousands of veterans experience excessive delays in trying to obtain mental health services from the Veterans Administration (VA).  This is especially sad to consider today, both because May is Mental Health Month and the President has just renewed our troop commitment to Afghanistan. William Hamilton was a 26 year old Iraq veteran when he died in May 2010. One of five siblings, he joined the army when he was nineteen. He experienced his first symptoms of mental illness while serving a tour in Iraq in 2005. He was diagnosed with PTSD and an anxiety disorder.  He was discharged honorably later that year and sought treatment at a VA Center. For four years, as his condition worsened, Hamilton bounced from one VA treatment setting to another.  In 2006, he was diagnosed with major depressive disorder.  Chemical dependency complicated his treatment.  He was hospitalized at the VA on several oc...