Stephen Fisher joined the US Marines after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack. After surviving three tours in Iraq and three roadside bombs, he suffered nerve damage, loss of vision and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), among many other injuries caused by his services.
However, when he returned to civilian life, he left one fight in Iraq and began fighting against the Veterans Affairs Bureau (VA) officials seeking to receive the medical care he needed. Fisher filed his first claim in September 2007. Since then, the VA has repeatedly limped as he has not been able to make all review appointments for his claims due to his part-time job as a police dispatcher. The battle for his profit continues.
The Fisher situation is, unfortunately, a reality for many military veterans who have put their lives at risk of fighting American enemies overseas.
The VA has a track record of eroding myriad issues across multiple presidential administrations, including long wait times and facilities that skip quality coverage that cannot adequately care for veterans. Many veterans told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the VA fundamentally misconstrued veterans and that major reforms are needed to stop leaving soldiers.
“I’m staying in this circular loop where VAs are asked to provide additional evidence of something lacking,” Fisher told DCNF. “This was something that should have been dealt with over a decade ago. This is now four or five presidents.”
Robert J. Doll VA Medical Center, where Fisher was taken care of, told DCNF that Fisher could not comment on details of patient care without signing another release form. The National VA also declined to discuss the details without a release.
“We had no doubts about our leaders before we entered the battle. Montgomery Granger, a US Army Major for 28 years, told DCNF, “With Donald Trump and [VA Secretary] Doug Collins, or Pete Hegses, or even Elon Musk. [Department of Government Efficiency] Work: It’s your turn. Just do it. And when you do it, be careful with the details. ” (Related: In the fight between Senate Republicans and House GOP, Trump supports “one big beautiful bill” over how to pass the agenda)
Doug Collins, the US President Donald Trump nominee to become the secretary of the Bureau of Veterans Affairs, testified at a confirmation hearing of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee in the Darksen Senate office building on January 21, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
Wade Miller, a former US Marine and senior advisor to the Center for Renewal in America, suffered nerve damage during deployment and received rapid treatment overseas through military hospitals. However, when he was discharged from the hospital and received care at the VA Medical Center in Dallas, he soon realized that VA care was far from what he received overseas.
The North Texas VA also told DCNF that it had not commented on the case details without the patient’s consent, and Miller refused to sign the release form with his personal information.
“We recommend veterans who are concerned to contact us so they can act quickly and deliver the high quality care they deserve,” North Texas VA told DCNF.
When he moved to Washington, D.C., he was forced to go to VA Hospital nearly an hour away, with appointment times being almost inflexible.
“My biggest ongoing complaint is not only the extraordinary time it takes to be seen at VA hospitals, but also the VA hospitals they allocate to you,” Miller told DCNF. “I live in Burke, Virginia. They go to VA Hospital on the east side of DC. So it’s like being over an hour away. I have a lot of hospitals within 10-15 minutes of here.”
“We already have existing hospital systems around us, so we don’t need duplicate VA systems, or at least we don’t need to expand,” Miller told DCNF.
Moreover, suicide continues to plague the ranks of veterans.
Veteran suicides have been relatively stable since 2001, hovering around 6,000 veteran suicides in 2022. According to To 2024 data from VA. Granger said DCNF veterans will be taking their own lives due to lack of understanding of veteran issues in the VA.
“Please ask me to explain my PTSD and how many explosions I’ve been exposed to…it’s getting worse,” Granger told DCNF. “The two things that VA was right now are the bounty of death and filling the whole person.”
“They wonder why there’s a veteran suicide epidemic. Most people can’t handle this process,” Granger told DCNF.
The billing backlog has risen dramatically since 2019, reaching over 250,000 claims in 2025, from under 100,000 before 2019. According to Go to VA data. The VA denied almost 30% of claims made without a lawyer, with nearly 15% being made in one. According to Go to 2020 VA Report.
Primary care wait despite minor improvements average Over 20 days in May 2024 standard VA sets access to care.
The average age of VA patients was 64 years old for men and 49 years old for women. According to Go to VA statistics in 2021.
A VA spokesperson told DCNF that Collins “is focused on customer service and convenience.” cut DEI policy, person in charge change It saves $98 million a year and saves cooperation with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to reduce “waste.”
VA request $369.5 billion based on the Biden administration in 2025, fiscal year 2025, Another Already large amounts of taxes granted to the department. Despite the increased funding, many veterans have not seen much progress on the ground.
During Trump’s first term, he lit the community care program green under the VA Mission Act. I’ll allow it Veterans to receive specific care from non-VA providers if the department approves the request. In many cases, veterans use this provision to go to private practices to get faster and higher quality care.
However, a group of 24 veteran organizations wrote to the VA in December 2024, claiming that under President Joe Biden, the VA had stonewalled access to private providers by abusing waiting periods for access to community care. VA condemned budget constraints within the department regarding the existence of community care options, Despite the fact that patients are eligible only if direct VA care is not available.
Collins I said At a January confirmation hearing that the Mission Act is one of the most important laws he is going to fully enforce as a secretary. He also pointed to the enforcement of other Trump-era laws that are important to his new administration, such as the VA’s accountability and the Whistleblower Protection Act and the Agreement Act.
Granger told the DCNF that he is confident the new administration can reform the VA, and repeatedly told him that he should not forget that the VA’s original mission was to care for veterans.
“Abraham Lincoln said in his second inaugural address, “I wasn’t saying he was looking after him with a fight, but only if it was service-related, ‘Is that right?” Granger told DCNF. “He didn’t qualify for a statement. If he had, the overall idea of the Veterans Affairs Bureau would have completely failed from the start.”
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