AO71 - Proposed Rule - Health Care for Homeless Veterans Program
2014-05-28 2014-05-27 2014-05-27 2014-06-18 2014-06-30 2014-05-20
VA-2014-VHA-0009-0006 VA-2014-VHA-0009-0004 VA-2014-VHA-0009-0005 VA-2014-VHA-0009-0007 VA-2014-VHA-0009-0008 VA-2014-VHA-0009-0003
04:00:00 04:00:00 04:00:00 04:00:00 04:00:00 04:00:00
https://api.regulations.gov/v4/comments/VA-2014-VHA-0009-0006 https://api.regulations.gov/v4/comments/VA-2014-VHA-0009-0004 https://api.regulations.gov/v4/comments/VA-2014-VHA-0009-0005 https://api.regulations.gov/v4/comments/VA-2014-VHA-0009-0007 https://api.regulations.gov/v4/comments/VA-2014-VHA-0009-0008 https://api.regulations.gov/v4/comments/VA-2014-VHA-0009-0003
Anonymous Anonymous Andrew Director erica borggren Anonymous Nicole
Anonymous Anonymous Akers Il dept. veterans affairs Anonymous Dudley
Yes.  Please make these changes.  Lets provide resources for our homeless vets, regardless of whether or not they have a mental illness. Individuals from all walks of life regardless of their sex, ethnicity and age, have answered the call in times when this great nation has called.  They go selfishly without argument or judgment and lay their lives in order to preserve our way of life.  Since after the Vietnam war this has been an all-volunteer military.  These individuals come back home and ask for nothing but a chance to be accepted back into society. It is shameful that our government want them to be diagnosed with certain illness before be afford benefits that they have earned. These proposed changes to the policies governing eligibility of homeless veterans need to be passed. I am in favor of the proposed changes of the Health Care for Homeless Veterans (HCHV) program. This revision of current policy is near and dear to my heart. Serving 6 years active duty in the United States Navy, I know from firsthand experience what our service-members are exposed to. Men and women who write a blank check, up to and including their own lives for our country, do not deserve to be on the streets without proper shelter. Veterans who have put their lives on the line for our country need to be able to turn to the Veterans Administration (VA) for help. Homeless veterans should be provided governmental assistance without undergoing prior medical evaluation first. Homeless veterans without debilitating mental illnesses should not be excluded from this program. Removing the requirement of diagnosis of a serious mental illness or substance use disorder to qualify for the HCHV program is the right call. Also, the addition of the VA providing case management services, including non-clinical case management, are services which can be of genuine use for those in need. If this policy change is approved, not only will these newly eligible homeless veterans have an honest chance with integration back in to society, these homeless veterans will become less dependent of VA assistance. The expansion of the breadth of the HCHV program can ease the burden of other governmental agencies and community efforts. Providing help, treatment, and guidance to our nations heroes is an ethical obligation for their service.  Removing the requirement of diagnosis of a serious mental illness or substance use disorder to qualify for the HCHV program allows the VA and HVHC to assist the significant population of homeless veterans who do not have substance abuse or serious mental health issues but are still in need of housing.  Additionally, removing the diagnosis requirement will allow the VA and HVHC to reach an even larger percentage of homeless veterans WITH mental illness, because homeless veterans who are not yet ready to address their mental illness will be able to bypass the sometimes stressful and painful process of clinical assessment that the current law mandates and still receive HVHC support. An estimated 131,000 veterans are homeless on any given night (NAMI.org), if HVHC and the VA can assist a greater portion of this deserving population by removing barriers to obtaining housing then the agency should support this.  I support this rule. According to the Department of Veterans Affair, there are an estimated 50,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans currently homeless or in a program to assist them (www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/01/16). According to the HCHV, 85% of the homeless VAs have a mental/abuse disorder but 15% do not. That 15% of homeless represents a large amount of Veterans. Coming back from a war where the economy is still recovering, these VAs who risked their lives for the US, many who have served in 2 wars, deserve all the assistance we can offer. It could eliminate the social stigma many homeless VAs who do dont suffer from a disorder may feel and enable them to seek assistance. Veterans of all ages come home to the United States after fighting our wars on our behalf to protect our freedoms and rights as American citizens that we so often take for granted.  It is my opinion that these men and women, who have many times laid their lives on the line for our country, should be supported and taken care of in their times of need.  I presonally feel it is sad that before this proposal, if a veteran fell homeless on their return to the states, that our Country would need a diagnosis of substance abuse or serious mental health disorder to step up and take care of the people who have afforded us our very own freedom.  I stand behind this proposed amendment wholeheartedly.