We ask so much of our troops. They leave their friends, family, home, and lives to go defend our freedom, with the knowing possibility that they may never come home. The best we can do for them is to one, live a life worthy of their sacrifices and two, to make sure they’re cared for when they come home.
One of the many proceedings that I have concerns about in our country is the way our American heroes have been treated in the years following and during their service. The United States Department of Veterans Affairs has at times struggled to fully meet the needs of those it was designed to serve. In 2023, an estimated nine million veterans were enrolled in the VA’s services, 5.6 million of them received disability compensation to support their needed healthcare. In 2025, 36% of VA disability claims were denied. My amazing mother works in home health therapy, she treats many veterans. Recently, she told me a story of one of them who is enrolled in the VA and since January of 2025 she has been trying to get in contact with the VA to approve the patient of an in-patient rehabilitation stay, as well as more treatment visits. Every time she calls she is met with a prolonged ring tone and then a response of “someone will be in contact with you,” then when they do contact her she is told that no one knows where the referral is coming from and are unable to direct the therapists in the right direction. Additionally, according to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, approximately 32,882 veterans experienced homelessness in January of 2024. Roughly 4% of veterans housed by the VA returned to homelessness in 2024.
I am not calling for reform based on one case. I am merely saying the program needs reform, more resources and more volunteers. We cannot force people to volunteer but, community service participants, juvenile offenders, and those incarcerated could do work with and for the VA for their return of service to the community after their crimes.
Another way of reform could be facilitating the VA’s healthcare system delivery process to ensure timely and effective care for our heroes. The enrollees may get approved for the care they need, but many of them, years after their request is submitted.
The backlog of veterans waiting for care has dropped more than 57% since the starting of President Trump’s second administration, but that is still 112,353 claims waiting to be approved. Part of the issue with veteran homelessness is related to a lack of housing facilities. Reforming the construction and leasing process for new VA facilities to reduce administrative delays. Furthermore, ensuring that our American heroes have access to community care without unnecessary ministerial obstacles by making eligibility automatic when the criteria is met.
One of the biggest issues is that veterans often cannot even schedule community appointments themselves. An updated approach can allow veterans to schedule directly with a medical provider, the providers could confirm the eligibility through a simple technological check, and it can help the VA to receive the appointment information in real time. This will eliminate the back and forth process that slows the medical assistance process down. A huge reason many providers will hesitate to accept the VA applicants is because of slow reimbursement. Fixing this can mean implementing faster and more standardized payment periods, reducing the documentation obstacles, and executing clearer communication between providers and the VA.
We The People deserve transparency. That goes for our heroes. They deserve clarity, not uncertainty. Helpful tools can include a simple showing of referral status, wait times and the next steps. A hotline employed with individuals who can actually help to resolve the issues, not simply read from a script of what to do and who to contact. I also feel that veterans should be allowed to choose their medical providers that are approved by the VA for certain services.
A family friend of mine, Brandon, served in the Army. He told me a story that was absolutely heartbreaking. He had a friend that was in the Special Forces and he was struggling with PTSD, his commanding officer took him to the VA and got him checked in. They did their evaluation and said he was fine and let him go home. 24 hours later, he took his life. According to the VA's 2025 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report, an average of 17.5 Veterans died by suicide per day, with sixty percent of those individuals not receiving VA health care in their last year alive. Devastatingly, the leading cause of death to American veterans is suicide.
In conclusion, I would like to see a version of our country where no American hero is denied healthcare or housing, or even waiting for an extensive amount of time for the approval of their claim. Our service men and women have ensured our freedom and sacrificed their lives for the red, white and blue. Because of them, we are able to breathe, walk and live freely every day without fear. While we will never be able to repay our debts to our veterans, we should try our best to ensure that every selfless, brave, freedom-fighting American soldier is able to access the services they deserve, efficiently, transparently and respectfully.
How often do we see the very government officials who send our brave men and women in uniform into combat, actually help them once they come home?
“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” - John F. Kennedy
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