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"Test The Rest" Campaign
Vietnam Era Veterans Hepatitis C Testing Enhancement Act
Action Needed!!
 
Jetguns- Bringing down hep-c
American Legion Post 1619 is urging all Vietnam vets to get tested

 
Newsweek-
VA's Hepatitis C Problem    
By Gerard Flynn

 
Orange Count Registry
Vietnam vets blame 'jet guns' for their hepatitis C
By Lily Leung Feb. 14, 2016 
 

By Judith Graham
VA Extends New Hepatitis C Drugs to All Veterans in Its Health System

 

 
Denied Hep C VA dental care?
Please click here

 
Dried Hepatitis C Blood Exposure 11/23/2013 Weeks later inconspicuous blood transmits virus and more likely to cause accidental exposures to Hep C
 

Lack of Standards
Mass Vaccinations
1970 Jetgun Nursing Instructions
 

2014 AASLD Study Hepatitis C not an STD

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Judge decision may be relied upon
Cotant v. Principi, 17 Vet.App. 116, 134 (2003),
 
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"TEST & TREAT THE REST" Awareness Campaign

HCVets.com Announces the Nation-Wide Hep C Veterans Project, "Test & Treat the Rest" Awareness Campaign

FYI - A Veterans study reports among Veterans with chronic Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) a cohort of 7,411 almost all patients reported at least one comorbid condition almost double the number of diseases and conditions when compared to controls.

Hepatitis C is Much More Than a Liver Disease

FYI - Of the 25 most common, the majority were known to be associated with either HCV antiviral treatment or disease. The five most frequent were... Read more http://hcvets.com/data/hcv_liver/2012HCVComorbidityBurden.htm

FYI - The VA states, 234,000 Veterans have the Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) and receive care within Veterans Affairs (VA) Heath Care System. The VA knows about approximately 174,000 of these Veterans in their care.

FYI - More than  50,000 have not been told or have not been tested.

Among the public, millions of Veterans that do not attend VA Medical Centers, were also not told of the risk or tested for the virus. These Veterans are living unaware because military service isn't considered "High Risk", in light of the fact that greater than "One in 10" US Veterans have hepatitis C"; A rate 5 times greater than the general population according to VA Testimony before the Subcommittee on Benefits Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, U.S. House of Representatives.

FYI - Veterans were promised access to adequate, timely medical care and treatment.

Treating veterans for hepatitis C within the VA health care system, could cost more than $12 billion every year—or about 20 percent of its annual budget.

Congress allocated a fraction needed, almost $1 billion, for medicines with a good portion going to caregivers. However, we need $12 billion to treat everyone with the expensive break-though therapies that offer a possible cure. The success rates of these drugs exceed 85 percent and have less serious side effects of their predecessors. 

Getting the new medicines to veterans is a top priority and literately a matter of life and death.

FYI - There is another waiting list.

According to the VA treatment guidelines, veterans do not qualify for the "sick enough" list until their livers are completely diseased. The list also includes veterans, who had liver transplants and still have hepatitis C. The virus attacks the new liver with a vengeance making it imperative these medicines are provided.

Unfortunately, there is no consideration for the other serious health effects resulting from the hepatitis C virus. 

FYI There is no known medical study that supports the VA denial of treatment and nothing in the policy grants the right to withhold a potentially life-saving drug, particularly on the perverse and pretextual ‘basis’ that it is not ‘medically necessary.

The VA wants us to believe it has no choice but to set guidelines that limit who can be treated with such little funding. However, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT.) has come up with a solution by calling for Secretary McDonald, to uphold the promise made to those that served by immediately declaring the emergency need and override the patents on the life-saving medications. (Read the letter to VA Secretary Robert McDonald from  Senator Bernard Sanders, Chairman, Veterans Affairs Committee).

Please sign the petition in support of Sen. Sanders.

Inform your representative the impact on health caused by the hepatitis C virus. This will help provide funding for care and treatment in the Bills before Congress. The time to act is NOW!

Sign the Petition
VA Secretary Robert McDonald
Please use VA's emergency powers and
override the patents on high-priced hepatitis C medicines.

Print and Send Flyer
Find Your Representative Contact Information
Make known hepatitis C is much more than a
liver disease and withholding treatment is unacceptable
http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/

Watch the Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKi_nP9TDiI&feature=youtu.be


Sen. Bernie Sanders Speaks about the VA Healthcare System &
Gilead’s HCV Drug
 

Read More:
News Week- By Gerard Flynn
The VA's Hepatitis C Problem
http://www.newsweek.com/

50,000 Veterans in VA health care unknowingly carry the hepatitis C Virus
...a recent VA memo recommends urgently treating those with advanced liver disease but holding off for patients with mild cases of the illness...Speaking on behalf of her ailing husband, Dorothy Dames says VA physicians knew Martin Dames had life-threatening cirrhosis as early as 2002, but didn’t tell them for more than eight years. Cache  


Why Are Prescription Drugs So Expensive? Big Pharma Points To The Cost Of Research And...
ibtimes.com| By amynordrum

Harry Hooks served in the Vietnam War ...diagnosed with hepatitis C in 2004 and has struggled with painful symptoms ... not yet received any of the new medications, but the Department of Veterans Affairs has stopped enrolling... “They ran out of money...will have to wait.” Excellent read... In-depth reporting on pharma rules for profit under scrutiny and why Harry and millions of other Vets cannot get the medicine http://www.ibtimes.com/why-are-prescription-drugs-so-expens…
 


Hepatitis C drug costing VA, DoD millions
By Patricia Kime, Staff writer
Sanders said Gilead bought the company that developed Sovaldi for $11 billion and is expected to make more than $200 billion from the drug." ... We're looking at a company who is milking a cash cow for everything it's worth," Sanders said. http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/pentagon/2015/01/07/hepatitis-c-sovaldi-cost/21334481/

The New York Times reported this week that an internal proposal to address the shortage of funds by excluding certain patients who have advanced terminal diseases or suffer from...advanced dementia” is stirring debate inside the department. -
 



VA to outsource care for 180,000 vets with hepatitis C
Dennis Wagner, The Arizona Republic 12:27 a.m. EDT June 21, 2015

The VA has spent weeks developing a dramatic and controversial transition as patient loads have surged and funding has run out. ...Vietnam Veterans of America, ripped the VA for launching a "faulty plan" and blasted the idea of medical teams deciding which patients will be denied antiviral remedies. "They've set up what I would call... 'death panels.' ..." http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/21/va-outsource-care-vets-hepatitis/29059755/

The maneuver also caused a furor among experts inside the Veterans Health Administration...200 specialists sent a letter...expressing their "dismay at this unacceptable development."

"To halt hepatitis C treatment at VHA facilities now would be unconscionable," they wrote. "We can and must end the epidemic. Once we have treated every veteran with hepatitis C, the costs will go away. ... Give us the ammunition, and we will win this war."
 

VA to outsource care for 180,000 vets with hepatitis C
, The Republic | azcentral.com 11:51 a.m. MST June 19, 2015

E-mails show Dr. David Ross, the VA's director of HIV, HCV and public-health pathogens programs, resigned from the working group. "I cannot in good conscience continue to work on a plan for rationing care to veterans," he wrote.
In a separate e-mail to top VA officials, Ross wrote, "There is no doubt in my mind that exclusively relying on Choice, rather than seeking supplemental funding, will be a disaster for patients, providers and VA."

Tom Berger, executive director of a health council established by Vietnam Veterans of America, ripped the VA for launching a "faulty plan" and blasted the idea of medical teams deciding which patients will be denied antiviral remedies.

"They've set up what I would call, in Sarah Palin's words, 'death panels.' ... Maybe rationalization panels is a better term," Berger said.



VA Region Stops Referring Patients To Outside Hospitals Thanks To Budget Shortfall

Michael Volpe
Contributor

...According to a memo from the region called Veterans Integrated Services Network (VISN) 9 — covering VA hospitals in Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia — the entire region has been forced to stop all “non-VA care” referrals due to a budget shortfall. http://dailycaller.com/2015/07/01/va-region-stops-referring-patients-to-outside-hospitals-thanks-to-budget-shortfall/#ixzz3ek09n2I8
 


VA using Choice Program to pay for Hepatitis C drugs
Unclear how many Central Oregon veterans affected by change
By Tara Bannow / The Bulletin / @tarabannow
 

The VA has asked Congress for authority to pull up to $500 million... to funnel patients through the Veterans Choice Program, a roughly $10 billion program designed to reduce wait times by allowing veterans to get care from private providers outside the VA system.

“We have the clinicians in the system that can treat the patients. What we don’t really have right now is money to buy the additional drugs,” said Dr. James Tuchschmidt, the VA’s acting principal deputy under secretary for health.  http://www.bendbulletin.com/home/3321432-151/va-using-choice-program-to-pay-for-hepatitis#
Cache

 


 

Sign the Petition
VA Secretary Robert McDonald
Please use VA's emergency powers and
override the patents on high-priced hepatitis C medicines.

Print and Send Flyer
Find Your Representative Contact Information
http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/

At the very least, HCVets asks you "Tell A Friend" and help save lives.

Follow us HCVets Educational Website & Support Forums

 


Empower Politicians
Join the Campaign to Support U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT.) request the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs use emergency power to override the patents on high-priced hepatitis C medicines.
 

Sign the Petition

VA Secretary Robert McDonald
Please use VA's emergency powers and override the patents on high-priced hepatitis C medicines.
 
FACT: Veterans are told to wait until the liver is completely diseased before qualifying for the new "miracle" drugs despite other serious health conditions resulting from Hepatitis C.

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Jetgun Vaccinator
(old style)
Click on the Pictures to enlarge

Front View of Jetgun

READ: 1970 DoD  Nursing Instructions for Jetgun Use

 

2008 FDA Study show 8.2% contamination for newer "improved" model... researchers stopped the test and rejected the device....

So how bad were the old ones?  Read the 2005 FDA Safety of Jetguns Advisory Meeting

1997 DoD Jetgun Report
Vaccines in the Military- Wide review of Vaccine Policies and Procedures ... says, ...jet injector nozzles were frequently contaminated with blood, yet sterilization practices were frequently inadequate or not followed."