Fellow American,

These are the types of stories that just make me sick…

A Veteran just passed away after desperately trying to convince the Department of Veterans Affairs for four years that he was sick.

Bradley Michels served in the Air Force from 1986-1996. He was stationed all around the world: from South Korea to Germany to Arizona.

Right after Bradley got out of the military, his wife Janie started noticing that something wasn’t quite right. “He started having neurological problems…he had a slurred voice sometimes,” she recalled, “and he started having cramps in the balls of his feet that went into his knee and into his thigh.”

Bradley Michels repeatedly asked his VA doctor to test him for ALS (Lou Gherig’s disease). Each time, the doctor refused.

He started asking the VA to help him in 2010. Four years passed. He applied countless times for disability assistance, but his claims were repeatedly denied.

Then, this past December, Bradley’s doctor finally agreed to test him for ALS.  Just as they suspected, the test came back positive. What did the VA do? They denied his request for benefits once again!

Bradley Michels died just days later after testing positive for the disease. There’s no cure for ALS but had he been tested earlier, Michels might have been able to manage the disease and live a little longer.

This is just shameful. Our men and women in uniform fight for this country. Then, when it comes time to fight an illness, these brave heroes are forced to fight the Department of Veterans Affairs as well!

Unacceptable!

Demand that Congress fix the VA! Not just throw money at it… Reform the entire Department!

Congress passed a VA reform bill, threw money at the problem, and told us that they fixed it. Well guess what… they didn’t fix a thing.

Barely anyone has been fired, real reform is still being stymied by bureaucratic red tape, and veterans are still dying waiting for the medical care they need and have earned.

Talk to anyone who has used a VA hospital and they will tell you horror stories. Scan the comments on stories like these and you will hear countless tales of misconduct in the VA.

I read one story of how a man’s father went into the VA complaining of chest pain. They told him it was acid reflux. Well, he sought a second opinion from a cardiologist and sure enough, he had almost complete blockage in his arteries.

Politicians claim the VA is getting better. Well, there’s only one thing the Department of Veterans Affairs is getting better at: hiding the truth of how it is really treating our vets!

Honestly… how can any doctor deny a request for a simple test for FOUR years? Sure, the test might cost a few hundred dollars. But how can anyone argue that a U.S. Air Force veteran hasn’t earned at least that much?

We hear time and time again that the problems at the VA are due to budgetary restrictions.

Here’s a newsflash: the doctors didn’t refuse to test Bradley Michels because of “budget cuts.” They refused to test him because they just didn’t care.

That’s the only conclusion I can come to. These doctors and nurses were hired to help veterans. Yet far too often, they don’t.

Our veterans are being left to die and no one seems to be doing anything about it. Neither Congress, nor the President, seem to care about the plight of our veterans. They sit in their fancy offices, drive around in their limousines, and live their lives completely disconnected from reality. They give themselves pay raises while slashing military pay and benefits.

I say “no more!” I say no more ignoring the plight of our veterans.

It is shameful that veterans continue to be neglected by the VA. They deserve better and they deserve more from us!

We need to raise our voices and force Congress to listen. No longer can they ignore the suffering of our vets.

It’s not enough to just throw money at a failed system and then go back to ignoring our veterans. Congress needs to help our vets and it needs to happen NOW before one more veteran unnecessarily dies!

Demand that Congress fix the VA! Not just throw money at it… Reform the entire Department!

Sincerely,

Joe Otto

Conservative Daily