For those of you that want our government to run your health care program!

Veterans Administration Denys Claim of Vet Dying from
Agent Orange Exposure

Los Angeles, CA - June 18, 2009 – After a year of stalling, the Veterans Administration has denied the benefits claim of Garry Lee Price, a Vietnam Veteran dying of cancer, which VA doctors have told him was caused by his exposure to Agent Orange.
The Veterans Administration, the health services side of the organization, determined on April 24, 2008 that Garry’s cancer was caused by his exposure to Agent Orange while serving in Vietnam. Garry is dying in a hospice in Sacramento. He has a tumor the size of a softball growing out of the side of his neck.
Gary’s terminal status, instead of spurring the administration to expedite his claim, gave them an extra reason to stall. And they did. For years, “deny, deny, until they die,” has been a common refrain among the Veteran community to describe what they see as the Veterans Administration’s unspoken policy of dragging their feet on claims processing until the Veteran applying dies. Then, the claim doesn’t have to be paid. Garry and his wife Bonnie are the latest victims of this policy. Video of Garry and Bonnie Price telling their story can be seen at www.denydeny.org.
When Gary dies, his widow will be faced with appealing the claim and restarting a process that could take years, while grieving over his loss. Due to his medical condition, Garry has been unable to work for the last two years. The family has had to sell most of their belongings to live. It is urgent that Garry’s benefits be awarded before his family suffers any more.
The Veterans Administration’s website states that Agent Orange related claims take an average of 204 days, or about 7 months to process. It also states that their goal is to speed the processing of these claims to 74 days. Garry first visited the VA with completed disability claim forms in June 2008, after two heart attacks and his cancer had kept him from earning income for almost a year. He was told that day by a VA claims representative that, since he was terminal, he should not bother applying, because the processing time would take longer than he had to live. Discouraged, Garry left with the forms still in his hand.
Garry sought help from the National Veterans Foundation who helped him file his claim, and in October 2008, mailed in the paperwork to the VA. In December 2008 he received a form letter stating that his claim had been received. He was told just this week his claim was denied, one year after he first walked it into the VA offices.
Garry Lee Price volunteered for the U.S. Army in November 1966 and served 2 years 7 months and 4 days in the military, most of that time in Vietnam. He was attached to a Special Forces unit and worked transporting sensitive documents through areas with heavy Agent Orange spraying.
He received an honorable discharge with the rank of Sergeant on June 17, 1969. During his service, he was awarded the National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Campaign Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Vietnam Service Medal and Army Commendation Medal.
The frustrating irony is that the medical side of the Veterans Administration has already determined Garry’s terminal cancer is service-connected, and that the benefits side still denied Garry’s claim. This is something that the National Veterans Foundation has seen many times before in their work assisting Veterans in crisis. “It’s like the left hand doesn’t know, or really care, what the right hand is doing,” says National Veterans Foundation President and Founder Shad Meshad. “The issue here is that, if the VA paid all the claims that are rightfully due, they’d go broke.”
Garry Lee Price served his country. He served overseas during war and, there, he was exposed to dangerous chemicals by his own people, chemicals that will prematurely take his life, possibly in the next few days. But the Veterans Administration, following a policy of “deny, deny, until they die,” doesn’t seem to care enough to expedite his claim.
How many more Garry Price type tragedies have to happen before the VA serves the needs of those heroes who have guaranteed our freedom with their blood?