Washington – Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson announced measures Tuesday intended to streamline the care and benefits given to veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the latest military health- care reform promised by the Bush administration.
An interagency task force chaired by Nicholson recommended to President Bush that all Iraq and Afghanistan veterans treated in VA facilities be screened for traumatic brain injury, which the secretary called “one of the signature injuries.”
Nicholson said Bush “accepted our recommendations.”
He said the VA and Pentagon must work to prevent injured service members from falling into bureaucratic crevices during the transition from military hospitals to veterans facilities. Toward that end, he said, computerized systems are being improved to better track veterans.
“If we can track a package in this country and know where it is at any given time, we certainly should be able to track a human being,” Nicholson said at the National Press Club.
Rep. Steve Buyer of Indiana, the top Republican on the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, on Tuesday called for Defense Secretary Robert Gates to act on improving coordination between the VA and Defense Department.
