A bipartisan bill currently before the House is focused on
increasing efforts to prevent suicide among our veterans. According to a study
done by the VA, an average of 22 veterans commit suicide every day.
The bill endeavors to increase suicide prevention efforts
and provide increased access to mental health care and counseling, including additional
reviews of discharges for individuals diagnosed with PTSD or TBI to ensure that
they have access to the care they need.
Additionally, the bill would authorize the VA to offer a
student loan repayment program for psychiatrists and mental health care
providers to increase the VA’s level of staffing which would increase the availability
of care.
The bill is named for Clay Hunt, a young man who joined the
Marines in 2005. After multiple deployments and a Purple Heart, he left the
military in 2009 and became a veterans’ advocate. Although he suffered from severe
PTSD, he was only given a 30% rating by the VA. Receiving the mental health
care and counseling he needed was difficult and took months to schedule. He
appealed his rating, but the VA lost his paperwork. After going through the hassle of submitting
it all again, he took his own life in 2011. Just weeks after his death, the VA approved
the appeal and awarded him a 100% rating.
Unfortunately, this warrior’s story is not unique. It is our
hope that between legislation and the changes the VA is rolling out, the system
will change for the better and that our veterans who are struggling to cope
with PTSD will be able to quickly receive the care they desperately need and
richly deserve so that tragedies like Clay Hunt’s can be prevented.
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