[AKA_Monet]

From what the clinicians told me is there is just not enough trained and licensed staff at the VA to treat the array of combat-related injuries. There are more privately trained and licensed clinicians to treat the series of injuries.

This sounds like a case of HMO's trying to get into the game. But I am sorry, Kaiser does not have triage care that VA is accustomed to. Since you have to be military to be a part of the VA, then the number of people paying into the system is not as high as say an mass HMO system like Kaiser, Regence Blue Shield, etc.

While I do think ALL service personnel EARNED appropriate medical care and we should pay for it, the question is how? There just are not enough studies as to how this will work--the aftercare, etc. I do know there is a study are few years ago that was published in NEJM of how triage care improved in Iraq and how the clinicians trained for it from LA County Hospital, but, I have not seen the progression course of aftercare for combat-related injuries outside of intention to treat SOP's...

My guess, if the injury is not loss of limb, and starts with PTSD, if minimally treated like HMO's do, the stress becomes overwhelming to the point that something in the body actually does become afflicted early than later--assuming combat duty is an inexplicable, unexplainable overwhelming trauma...

I would like to see what the IAVA has to say about it.