Veterans fight for medical fee rights

by Courtney O'Brien
Warragul veteran James Burke left the military in December 2017 and since then has had two hip replacements and a total of 47 surgeries, all service related.
Ongoing medical and allied health treatment is a burden the veteran has to regularly endure, just for his body to remain functional.
Mr Burke travels 1000 kilometres a month, on average, to access specialist care, which is crucial to his quality of life.
Under proposed Federal Government budget reforms, a $5000 annual cap would be placed on allied health services for veterans.
Those with a valid clinical need who exceed the cap would be able to receive funding through an exemption process; however, they would be required to continually apply.

"You're putting a cap on something that is just going to force a veteran to have to continually prove something that they've already proven."

"It's just absurd," Mr Burke said.
"I shouldn't hit a $5000 limit and then have to prove again that I've had my hip replaced twice. It's not like they gave me a new hip in there; it's not changed, why should I have to re-prove it?"
"I would go through $5000 in less than a month at my current rate of appointments."
Mr Burke also has a five week wait, at times, to be reimbursed for fuel costs travelling to and from appointments, pointing out a glaring discrepancy.
"Department of Veteran Affairs reimburses 68c per kilometre for private vehicle use. The Australian Tax Office recommends 88c/km. Politicians get 88c/km. Why are veterans getting 20 cents less?"
More than 580,000 Australians have served in the Australian Defence Force and 85 per cent are ex-serving members. Of ex-serving veterans, 45 per cent were living with at least one chronic condition in 2019/2020 and 13 per cent needed assistance with core activities including self-care, body movement and communication, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
Forced to navigate complex systems and administrative processes to receive basic entitlements, veterans with service-related physical and psychological injuries facing more requirements can often be the last straw.
"Eventually all the veteran sees are obstacles. If there's enough obstacles there – we've just had a royal commission into veteran suicide – veterans just go, 'enough, I'm done'. Because it's taxing on them and on their family. It's hard," explained veteran Robert Cunningham.
Mr Burke and Mr Cunningham, alongside Baw Baw Veterans and Family Centre manager Ben Vahland met with Member for Monash Mary Aldred last week to advocate for an alternative approach.
"We shouldn't need to have advocates. Other systems you don't need to have an advocate for - such as work cover. It's problematic," said Mr Vahland, adding he was appreciative of Ms Aldred's support.
"We're going to work as a community together to give this our best shot on the veterans cap issue with allied health, because it's just desperately unfair," Ms Aldred said.
"It works counter to the health and ongoing welfare of veterans in our community who have worn our national uniform and as a bare minimum deserve that support when they return home."
"I'll be writing to the Prime Minister and the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, and doing everything we can to overturn this cap."