Chris Enget’s fight for veterans’ health care
When Chris Enget returned from Afghanistan, he knew he would face a long journey back to civilian life.
What he didn’t expect, however, was that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) — the very institution created to help veterans like him — would do more harm than good.
“I refuse to ever go back at the VA. I refuse to step foot in their building because I don’t feel they were actually there to take care of me.”
That’s what Chris has to say about the VA, and he has good reasons to feel like that.
Since he got back to Montana in 2017, Chris endured botched operations, months of painful recovery, long waiting times, and a suffocating VA bureaucracy that forced him to wait six months to talk with a therapist — even after two failed suicide attempts.
You can watch Chris’s story by watching this video.
It was only after Chris found a therapist outside of VA that he finally got on a path toward minding his mental health and wellness.
Chris knew things had to change. He wouldn’t leave his brothers-in-arms alone, so he got involved in the fight to get veterans the care they deserve.
Today, Chris is a leading voice for veterans and health care choice.
As the strategic director of Concerned Veterans for America (CVA) in Montana, one of the states with the highest veteran populations per capita, he’s working tirelessly for policy solutions that would ensure veterans who’ve served and sacrificed for our country have access to health care when and where they want.
Fighting for a system where veterans are front and center
Regretfully, Chris’s experience with the VA is not an outlier.
In Montana, veterans wait seven months on average to get a mental health appointment through the VA. These delays are devastating thousands of veterans and their families across America. As Chris warns:
“I’ve already lost several of the members I’ve deployed with to suicide. I’ve seen it happen. I’m affected by it. I’ve attempted it before.”
Suicide is the second leading cause of death in veterans under 45.
Access to care — when you need it — can be the difference between life and death.
Veterans deserve more choices within the VA health care system, but they’re trapped in a bureaucratic nightmare.
What’s the best way to ensure veterans get the health care they earned?
Putting veterans in control over their own health.
Letting them be free to choose the best care for themselves, and not be forced into a system many dislike.
The MISSION Act: A first step
The MISSION Act is a critical first step to get veterans the choice they deserve and put them back in charge of their own lives.
Passed in 2018 with overwhelming bipartisan support, this bill gives veterans more choices over their health care by streamlining and expanding access to community care programs.
The MISSION Act is a crucial first step into creating a system that puts veterans, not the VA, at the center.
While the MISSION Act is the law of the land, VA administrators are actually discouraging veterans from looking for community care or wrongfully measuring wait times, both violating the MISSION Act.
This is unacceptable.
Bureaucrats and politicians are defying the spirit of the MISSION Act and pushing tens of thousands of veterans away from the health care they need.
At CVA, we remain vigilant. We keep fighting every day to bring more choices for veterans and to hold politicians accountable for fully implementing the MISSION Act and give veterans the health care they earned.
If you want to take action, click this link to learn more about CVA and join the movement.
