Recently, a fellow wrote in claiming to be a veteran and making inaccurate statements about how mileage and share of cost are handled.
Let me say that I am a service-connected disabled veteran and have had both good and bad dealings with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Most of what has been printed in that letter has been less than informed.
First, there is a shuttle bus that will take veterans from the Clearlake Out Patient Clinic (OPC) to the Ukiah OPC with a pick up from the Lakeport VA office. From Ukiah, the veteran may make connections with shuttles to the various clinics around the bay: San Francisco, Martinez, Santa Rosa and Mare Island. This is a free service provided to any veteran, disabled or not.
To be reimbursed for using one”s own mode of transport, one needs to be rated at 50 percent or more service connected disabled. The mileage is paid at approx. 35 cents a mile round trip. It is not from the county line as some folks would lead you to believe but from town center.
When I was drafted in 1967, part of the entitlement of being a veteran was free medical care for the rest of our lives. Yeah, we got shafted on that real quick, but no vet has to pay for any care received for a service-connected injury that has a rated disability of more than 30 percent.
When I first moved to Lake County, the mileage paid for travel was about 8 cents a mile, as I remember. It covered around half the cost of my gas. Now, at 35 cents per mile, all the gas is covered and I even have enough left for lunch. Yes, there were many years when there was an adversarial relationship between the VA and Veterans. But those days seem to be, for the most part, gone.
I have been a tent leader at two of the Stand Downs at the Dixon Fair Grounds. It is really good to see the VA reaching out proactively to many veterans. It is a real good experience to participate in a Stand Down, vets helping vets. If one is feeling left behind, there are many vets and veteran organizations that can help, but trying to make the VA look bad by using half-truths is not going to do any good for any one.
William Ford, Clearlake
