Demographers have given a label to the generation of veterans who won World War II: The Greatest Generation.
No one doubts they deserve the name. They spent their early lives in privation — enduring lost opportunities and deep poverty in the years of the Great Depression. Economic struggle was followed by global war, and this besieged generation stepped up to do their duty.
The forces of totalitarianism had never seen such a foe: the American soldier, whose bravery rolled back aggression and liberated millions.
They were followed by what these same demographers have termed The Silent Generation. In many ways it’s a name that could be applied to every surviving U.S. veteran, from the North African campaign in 1942 to the disparate and often cloaked struggles in the war on terror. Their character, training and experience leads them to endure every challenge with bravery and humility. Even when they desperately need help, they are often reluctant to call out for it. When misfortune strikes, they too often suffer in silence.
At Fisher Capital Group, we believe it is the responsibility of every American to be an advocate for our veterans — to speak up for them, to listen to them and to honor their sacrifice. One way to do that is to pay attention to the issues that are important to veterans. One of the most vital is healthcare.
For too long, many veterans have been trapped in a system of substandard care. If you know a veteran who has needed medical treatment, you have likely heard terrifying stories about VA hospitals and the labyrinthine system veterans must navigate to access them. President Trump made remarkable strides in reforming this system, but the resistance of the bureaucracy and many in Congress prevented other changes that needed to be made.
A recent article by former congressional legislative director Peter Mihalick pointed out many of these issues.
“The unfortunate situation with disabled veterans is another case of the federal government making big promises but failing to deliver,” Mihalick writes. “According to the VA, in 2023 it ‘delivered more care and more benefits to more Veterans than ever before,’ providing “$163 billion in earned benefits, including $150 billion in compensation and pension benefits, to 1,535,685 Veterans and survivors — all of which are all-time records.’ This all sounds great, but it masks the fact that the VA is being overwhelmed by the requests for help from veterans and that the agency is in a state of disarray.”
He notes that the Department of Veterans Affairs system is backlogged with more than 300,000 cases and as much as a million unprocessed claims. According to Mihalick, some in Congress are reacting to the problem by adding insult to injury. Proposed legislation titled the GUARD VA Benefits Act would actually make it illegal for veterans to turn to the private sector when the VA system lets them down.
“Private services — many run by veterans and former VA employees — are helping to ensure their veteran clients file accurate and thorough claims with the VA. This reduces the wait time for veterans to get their benefits, avoids the need for veterans to hire expensive attorneys to handle an appeal, and cuts down on paperwork and processing time for VA staff, which in turn reduces the case backlog,” he explains.
“Ultimately, we need to fix the broken VA and make it easier for our nation’s veterans to get the benefits they have earned without having to seek outside help … But until that happens, we should be doing everything we can to ensure veterans have access to the help they need.”
Suffering in silence, many veterans are being denied life-saving care, or receiving it when it is almost too late. And that is something no American should ever tolerate.