Dana Williams lives in Belfast.

I am a Vietnam era veteran with a 100% total and permanent disability rating. I share this with you in the hope that it puts the rest of my submission in context. 

I have been receiving healthcare through the VA since 2013. The vast majority of that care has been at the Togus VA Healthcare campus in Augusta, and it has been exceptional. It likely would still be but for the present “administration.”

For the past two years, there has been a dramatic change in the ability of Togus to provide services. This is entirely the result of underfunding, not replacing vacant positions, and not providing a system that offers potential job seekers an income that is competitive with the private sector.

For me, personally, that has resulted in the loss of consistent mental health care services, compromised dental services, inadequate or absent imaging services and the loss of ENT services. That’s not the complete picture, but I hope that it begins to illustrate a degradation in the healthcare that many Maine veterans rely on.

As I have inquired about these losses, what I have found is that the Veterans Administration has made it seem like it is doing all it can for veterans when, in fact, it is strategically attempting to move VA healthcare to the private sector instead. This is being done despite the fact that the private sector is already struggling to serve its present caseloads.

At Togus, departments are not being shut down, per se. Rather, it is no longer able to deliver services because there aren’t providers to operate them.

This line of reasoning allows the administration to claim that it is not refusing to provide veterans with necessary healthcare, it just can’t find anyone to fill vacant positions. At present, there is a hiring freeze at Togus. At present, of the roughly 150 positions in New England that will remain unfilled, half of them are at Togus.

This plan that the federal government is intent on imposing is a blatant breach of the promises made to disabled veterans. My understanding is that VA healthcare comes under the title of “discretionary” spending, which allows the government to essentially do whatever it wants.

In the past, these healthcare funds were treated as though they were a mandatory part of the federal budget. Mostly, that worked to continue funding. That is no longer the case.

What is particularly egregious is that this strategy is being imposed during a time when tens of thousands of military personnel are being deployed to volatile parts of the world.  These soldiers are subject to potential harm, and they will need a VA healthcare system that fully supports them.  It does not have one at this time.

If, indeed, this nation as a whole feels that it is obliged to be there for veterans and those on active duty, it is not demonstrating it by its actions. I am fairly confident that the majority of those in battle do not consider this. So many of them are really just kids who believe they are doing something positive for their country, and that their country will care for them if they need it.  So many of them will be profoundly disappointed when they realize that this is not the case.

It is vitally important to show those who have sworn to protect all of us that their service will be respected. “Thank you for your service” must not be all that they receive. They must all be provided with the best healthcare that we have to offer.