Lori Falce: The broken pact of veterans' health care

I’m thinking a lot about my uncle right now.

His funeral is this weekend. I am collecting memories from family members and friends. I am compiling them into the story of a man who wasn’t rich or famous but had the kind of life built on hard work and commitment that embodied the American dream at a time before billionaire was an aspiration for more than James Bond villains.

He was married to my aunt for 53 years. They had two children, five grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and a series of well-loved and spoiled-rotten dogs.

He was also a Marine veteran who served in Vietnam. It was the kind of service that defined his life. Marines often say there is no such thing as a former Marine. My uncle lived that long after his service ended and he set aside his uniform.

What is tragic is that the federal government didn’t feel the same lifelong obligation.

My uncle had diabetes that could be traced to Agent Orange exposure. It didn’t just spike his blood sugar and make it complicated to eat carbs. It stole his foot bit by bit for years as an infection grew and ate away at his ability to stand and walk and balance.

It was his heart that gave out over time, as often happens to men his age. As a veteran who carried a gun and did a job for his country, the government was supposed to provide the health care he needed all his life.

It isn’t that the Department of Veterans Affairs didn’t provide care. It did. He got medication and surgery and hospital stays.

The problem is that everything he received was the result of a fight, with my aunt doing battle to get him appointments and a wheelchair and oxygen.

While we know my uncle was special in so many ways, unfortunately, this wasn’t one of them. It is pathetically common for those who fought for our country to die fighting for the care they were promised.

In 2015, an inspector general’s report pointed to more than 300,000 veterans who died waiting for desperately needed health care. Reforming the department to patch the holes in the system and make it function efficiently to provide for an aging veteran population, as well as more recent Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, has been a talking point. But the waits still happen.

Then there are those with illnesses linked to burn pit toxins that prompted the recent PACT Act. It became a political flashpoint for weeks before passing Aug. 16 and finally acknowledging the exposure and providing for medical care.

That sounds good, but veterans still are struggling to get what they were promised a half-century ago or more.

Well, my uncle isn’t anymore. The man who never gave up on his country or his family or his job was too tired to keep fighting for himself.

Sadly, that kind of attrition might be the fastest way for appointments to free up for vets in need. That might not surprise the Marines and sailors, soldiers and airmen who were all too familiar with how government worked — or, more accurately, didn’t work.

However, it definitely isn’t in keeping with the pact made between veterans such as my uncle and the country they swore to protect, but which too often fails to protect them in return.