Bush Administration Argues Veterans Have No Right to Mental Health Care

Support our troups? Of course, unless you are a Bushie. Put troops in a desperate no-win situation, then opt out on caring for their PSTD among other egregious lapses in thankfulness....Read on:

Bush Administration Argues Veterans Have No Right to Mental Health Care:
"Tuesday 05 February 2008

Veterans have no legal right to specific types of medical care, the Bush administration argues in a lawsuit accusing the government of illegally denying mental health treatment to some troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The arguments, filed Wednesday in federal court in San Francisco, strike at the heart of a lawsuit filed on behalf of veterans that claims the health care system for returning troops provides little recourse when the government rejects their medical claims.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is making progress in increasing its staffing and screening veterans for combat-related stress, Justice Department lawyers said. But their central argument is that Congress left decisions about who should get health care, and what type of care, to the VA and not to veterans or the courts.

A federal law providing five years of care for veterans from the date of their discharge establishes 'veterans' eligibility for health care, but it does not create an entitlement to any particular medical service,' government lawyers said.

They said the law entitles veterans only to 'medical care which the secretary (of Veterans Affairs) determines is needed, and only to the extent funds ... are available.'

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