Service providers share four problems affecting veterans in New Mexico

Veterans and veteran service providers gathered in the South Valley last week to share their concerns with U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M.

Here are four problems they wanted to talk about:

1. The state is struggling to find rural veterans and get them services under the PACT Act:

According to the Veterans Benefits Administration, there are 80,000 Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act eligible veterans in New Mexico and 33,000 are not tethered to VA health care, said Robin Wilson, division director of Field Services from the New Mexico Department of Veterans Services, “but we don’t know where they are or who they are.”

The PACT Act expanded VA health care and benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange and other toxic substances.

The problem has been identifying veterans in rural parts of the state, Wilson said.

“The second hurdle from a state perspective is getting veterans to understand that them asking for service connection, or health care or anything is a benefit that they have earned that was fully funded by Congress,” Wilson said. “They’re not taking away from another veteran, and I hear that over and over, ‘I just have tinnitus. I don’t want VA health care. I don’t need to file for service connection. I don’t want to take away from anybody else.’”

2. Continuing resolutions in Congress are making it more difficult to reach rural veterans: The continuing resolutions are a series of stopgap measures that Congress has passed as a compromise to keep the federal government funded instead of passing a full budget. The lack of a long-term budget has made it difficult to plan travel to rural parts of the state, according to Mike Nelson, public affairs officer for the VA’s Albuquerque Regional Office.

“These CRs are killing us. They are killing us,” Nelson said. “It’s a great way to not spend money, but we sit here with all these outreach opportunities and come up to the last day and then line it out.”

Instead, they’re focusing more outreach in central New Mexico, “where chances are most vets already have the services available or are aware of them,” Nelson said. They do plan to do outreach in Zuni in a couple of weeks, Nelson said, but will only spend a day on it. With travel, that leaves three hours to do outreach.

3. Rural transportation needs more funding:

The rural transportation program, which transports veterans in highly rural areas to medical appointments, could use tons more funding, said Thomas Tozier, liaison and coordinator of military and veteran affairs for Albuquerque’s mayor.

Vasquez said he is cosponsoring a bipartisan bill that would change the definition of “highly rural” for the rural transportation program, which could make more people in New Mexico eligible for the funds.

Diane Mourning Brown, who manages the medical transportation program at the Department of Veterans Services, said changing definitions could help, but she thinks there needs to be funding for rural medical transportation, not just highly rural.

“Our money comes directly from a grant from the VA but is specific to highly rural counties. So, there’s 15 in New Mexico that are considered highly rural, and as you know, this entire state is rural,” Mourning Brown said.

4. Finding providers for compensation examinations is difficult:

If you want to see an optometrist for a compensation and pension examination in Albuquerque, the closest provider is in Salt Lake City, Nelson said.

“We will have veterans who wait and wait and wait, just to get a compensation and pension examination,” Nelson said.

Veterans sometimes need compensation and pension examinations after filing a disability benefits claim. The medical exam is part of a claim review process to help the VA determine if a disability is connected to the veteran’s service, the level of disability and if the condition is worsening. According to a VA claims fact sheet, medical examiners might ask questions, observe behavior, perform a limited physical exam or simply review the veteran’s file during the exam.