Sunday, July 29, 2007
Editorial: Call upon the passion
The push to overhaul military medical care must be strong. The president must see to it.
From the RoundTable blog
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President Bush's initial response to recommendations last week from a commission that examined the care given U.S. service members was absent the passion so needed in this time of war.
"They've come up with some very interesting and important suggestions," he said following a briefing with commission co-chairs Donna Shalala, former Health and Human Services secretary, and former Sen. Robert Dole.
What the public should have heard, initially, were words that didn't come until hours later, after Bush jogged on the South Lawn with two wounded soldiers, one who'd lost a leg, another who'd lost both.
Then, he said that he had instructed Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson "to look at every one of these recommendations, to take them seriously, and to implement them, so that we can say with certainty that any soldier who has been hurt will get the best possible care and treatment that this government can offer."
There was the passion, in the presence of two of the millions of men and women who deserve more than lip service for their military service and sacrifice, in wars present and past.
Bush must ensure that the nation's promise to service members is fulfilled by following through on the commission's recommendations to fix the mess that military and veterans health care has become.
The federal government has long broken trust with service members on health care. The deep cracks -- the substandard condition of some medical facilities, the bureaucratic maze, the inconsistent care -- have persisted. Sadly, the government jumped to repair them only after The Washington Post shined a glaring spotlight on deficiencies at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
To be sure, the military will salute and respond accordingly to the commission's recommendations, if given the resources to do so. Carrying out its six broad proposals -- that include completely restructuring the disability and compensation systems, and aggressively preventing and treating post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury -- will cost $500 million a year, for now, and $1 billion annually years from now, according to The New York Times.
How do you weigh the cost of current, modern war against the cost of caring for the new war-wounded and the old?
That is the challenge. Bush needs to push for change with vigor if he expects the challenge to be met.
He should call upon the passion of his words after that South Lawn jog.
