Remember, what the government giveth, the government can taketh away!

Now the 64-year-old disabled Vietnam War-era veteran from West Valley may face life-or-death consequences because the Department of Veterans Affairs health care system, he says, is overwhelmed by returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I want other veterans to know what I have gone through. Maybe it will help someone else,” said Scharf, who Thursday finally won a battle to have the VA pay for follow-up cancer surgery and tests at Roswell Park Cancer Institute.

In two weeks, when the procedures are performed, he says, he will know for sure whether his cancer has spread.

Scharf said that Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Buffalo imposed repeated delays in providing him care and that he never once saw a VA cancer specialist after he first complained of a lump below his right ankle in May.

His story of delays is a familiar one, according to the Disabled American Veterans, a Washington, D. C., veterans advocacy group. “It sounds like Mr. Scharf has been caught up in the funding system,” said Thom Wilborn, an official of the group, explaining that toward the end of the federal fiscal year in September, medical procedures and referrals are sometimes delayed.

“Without Congress’ approval of a funding plan, the VA is forced to reduce its health care services,” Wilborn said.

The last sentence is true of any government provided service.  We don’t need bureaucrats making life and death decisions for us.

(Source)