First, Happy Veterans Day! Thank you to those who have served our country.
I've read many stories this past year of our veterans suffering due to forced mail order pharmacy or even from being forced to a VA pharmacy. I wanted to share a story published yesterday about a veteran's experience with mail order. The article stated:
"My fingers tingled because of withdrawal from the anti-anxiety medications I wasn't getting from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Between childhood trauma and my four years in the service, I relied on medications such as clonazepam, for anxiety, and Zoloft for PTSD, but the VA delivered my medication through the mail, and I hadn't had a stable home for some time—I was couch surfing, car snoozing, or sleeping in the back of the restaurant where I worked. With no permanent address, my meds never found me.
Sadly, my situation was far from unique. On a single night in January 2020, 37,252 veterans were victims of homelessness. And the VA processes about 80 percent of veteran prescriptions by mail, so when a veteran loses their home, they often lose access to the medications their life depends on."
Filled with many emotions reading that passage, I just cannot understand how anyone could desire to keep the status quo. Homelessness and forced mail order is something that I have thought about. It's another reason why veterans and all patients should be able to use the pharmacy that best meets their needs. America's veterans have risked their lives enough. How can someone have a chance of living a successful and productive life if the access to the medications that allow their ability to function productively in society or to even keep them alive has been cut off. Local pharmacy access should always be a prioritized option as medication access is a basic need of any nation's public health.
Often veterans are steered to mail order or they must use a VA pharmacy that may be hours away. Here is another article that I came across this week was from another veteran who shared his experience at a VA pharmacy.
"My panic attacks and anxiety are so bad that I actually need two medications to ensure that I don’t suffer from shock-induced seizures.
I always thought these facts would supersede whatever bureaucratic nonsense might stand in the way of picking up my prescriptions. But last month, when the Korean War veteran in front of me was told he would have to wait to receive his blood pressure medication — because their system was having problems — I knew I was in trouble.
Even after the spindly old man in brown slacks explained that two days without his pills left him at a high risk of death from heart attack or stroke, the disinterested cherub-faced pharmacist, who had quite obviously never served a day of his life in the military, said without ever looking up: We’re doing the best we can. He then raised his head from the safety of his plexiglass partition with his cell phone resting in his left hand and gave what could only have been interpreted as a grin.
...
I wonder what happened to that old Korean War veteran in front of me that day? Did he make it long enough for a fix to the clerical errors that deprived us of our medications? What would my fate have been if I hadn’t been so stubborn? If I hadn’t refused to leave without the medications my doctor prescribed me? How long would I have waited with gritted teeth, hoping my physiological dependence didn’t cause me to stroke out? And if I did die, or if that old Korean War vet died, who would tell our stories? Would we ever be known to our country as anything more than a single black mark on a piece of white paper?
The war didn’t kill us. But I often fear the VA will."
Please use your voice to help fight for patients who are suffering from forced mail order pharmacy. The success of our advocacy has been slow. The delay is not because we are not fighting for what is right. It is because we are fighting against the wealthiest billion-dollar corporations in America.
Thank you,
Loretta Boesing