The state of play with America’s Veterans in 2024 is a mixed bag.
On the one hand, we have record spending from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in support of Veterans and a strong cadre of earned benefits (technically entitlement spending in federal budget terminology) available to qualified veterans. Programs to secure loans, disability compensation , education and employment related programs and the largest healthcare system in the nation. The quality of the healthcare is high and the programs and spending is on par. However, on the other hand there are problems too.
The bureaucratic function of the VA still relies on voicemails, and too often there are still very poor customer service functions and difficulties with Veterans accessing benefits. Programs that have major potential such as the Veterans Employment and Readiness (VRE) program, have been the subject of investigation, and Veterans have been unable to reach counselors. In some cases, like the Washington DC National office counselors in this division do not come into work at all. In one case a Veteran wrote the Secretary’s office, only to have three different people reach out initially, to go missing in action again. In other words, as in past decades it is the accessing the benefits portion of the experience that is still an issue.
We must all work to empower society to support the non profit community and our government leaders in the area of health and wellness.
To that end, I have founded the Veterans Health Accelerator Project (VHAP) with a diverse team ranging from world class athletes, inventors, doctors, and health care professionals to provide the most up to date best in class treatments for Veterans. While many treatments are available through the VA, many new groundbreaking treatments in regenerative health such as stem cell therapy are currently only accessed largely by the wealthy.
Stem cell therapy is something that has gained a lot of attention in the form of glowing testimonials from world class athletes, celebrities, and those fortunate enough to receive the care. The healing and regenerative value that has been described in this space is interesting. Knowing also, that the era of ethics surrounding the sourcing of stem cells has been addressed by ethical and open transparency around sourcing from healthy and pre-agree upon pregnancies. Significant scientific detail surrounds the consistent benefits of these treatments but in brief, the golden cells are extracted from the umbilical chord of a healthy pregnancy that would otherwise be discarded.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has the duty to make sure treatments are safe and ethical and in the same spirit of regulation we also must look at how far behind regulators are from granting access to much needed treatments. Especially looking at the positive impact many first responders and veterans are detailing in public interviews, more needs to be done. The FDA has not approved culturing and some modes and activities surrounding stem cells and so these treatments are mostly conducted in Central and South America where there is a more permissive atmosphere. While I understand the important role of the FDA I think we need to accelerate research and science surrounding the approvals of these treatments so that veterans can be sponsored and covered to receive them.
The good will in America has been strong for Veterans, and yet I have seen no such effort to raise funds to provide veterans with the education and access to grants to pursue travel for treatment. This is what the Veterans Health Accelerator Project (VHAP) is setting out to do.
We applaud the good will in America and looking forwarding to advocating in support of what is already available to Veterans, and working to improve policy to allow access in areas where care is more restrictive. We believe veterans should have access to the most effective regenerative health treatments in the world.