BEAUMONT, Texas — After dutifully serving our country, some men and women are facing a new fight regarding unpaid medical bills leaving veterans to believe the system set up to help them is broken.
Government officials are asking questions regarding the issue, bringing up an investigation conducted by USA Today that pointed out “examples of the VA actively denying access to community care.”
“I am, and we dug very deeply into each of the instances and obviously can't talk about a lot of that,” Dennis McDonough, secretary of Veteran Affairs, said. “In fact, I'm not even privy myself to each of those cases.”
Damien Bennett is an Army veteran who is included in those instances.
“I had 11 collection accounts on my credit report from authorized VA community care appointments,” Bennett said. “That was ruining my credit score.”
The community care program is for veterans who would like to get care outside of the VA hospital, but it requires authorization from the VA.
"Dr. Kathleen Kemp, who is the San Diego VA Chief of Staff, said physicians sometimes incorrectly try to relocate patients for treatments her hospital can offer, which would be internal, and administrators are regularly educating them to help keep veterans at the VA," Senator Mike Rounds, said. "And then the direct quote: 'because of the nature of the Mission Act, the VA is sending a lot of care in the community. And frankly, we're worried that we're not going to be able to pay the bills' end the quote."
Although individual veterans are not responsible for payment, they said that does not stop creditors from calling or sending threatening letters.
Veterans feel the issue is not only ruining their credit but also driving away doctors. They believe this in turn is limiting healthcare options and forcing them to travel to areas such as Houston and Lake Charles for help.
“I lost all of my community care doctors except one,” Bennett said. “And the doctors lost will not go back into the community care network because the VA did not pay their bill.”
Dorothy Meindok is a veteran and veteran's lawyer that still fights alongside her comrades off the battlefield.
“Guys and gals that go through all of this are really, really sick,” Meindox said. “And then that leads to the suicides. We lost him that way. He was 26 service-connected disabilities, 53 years old, 35% lung capacity due to work exposures. He was denied oxygen."
In 2021, just under $2.5 billion worth of claims were denied in Texas, and just under 500 million were in the Southeast Texas area.
"And it's not just me. It's many other veterans," Bennett said. “This community serves about 20-25,000 veterans, and we're being left out in the cold. Our community care network is a broken system. I've reached out to the director. I’ve reached out to my Congressman Brian Babin to no avail.”
The issue is forcing some veterans to rely on spousal benefits. Others don’t have that option and must continue to rely on the VA.
“We need the VA,” Meindok said. “We're not trying to kill the VA, but we understand very well like he said there are some people like Damien Bennett said, there are some great people in VA, their hands are tied.”
It is something that Senator Rounds and veterans say is a problem.
“I think we've got a serious problem here," Senator Rounds "This not going to go away."
Another big problem area veterans said they face is transportation issues, as they struggle to get their brothers and sisters to their doctor appointments.
Veterans in need of help can reach out to SETX Veterans 4 Veterans for assistance.