After years of failure to end the crisis, veteran suicide takes center stage on Capitol Hill

Thanks for the great information Mike!

I live in a rural area and use the Veterans Choice/CITC for my needs. In essence my healthcare has already been "privatized" - by local providers who I have a real patient-doc relationship with. I believe the care I'm getting is LESS costly to the taxpayer than similar care at the VA. I also believe the quality of care I am receiving is at or better than similar VA care. JMHO - for what it's worth.

The Federal government is a an appropriate weapon to use for a handful of endeavors generally involved with foreign relations and interstate issues, my friend COL Mikel J. Burroughs.
I understand why some including Jan Brown are desperate to solve unsolvable problems such as mental health.

1. Suicide is an intensely personal issue. I have known many successful suicides and a number of unsuccessful suicides [those who survived :-) ].
2. Congress can lob taxpayers funds at it as they did on the war of poverty and war on drugs with similar dismal results.
3. The VAMC system has many strengths including orthopedic and neurosurgery which Is why I elected to have surgery in a VAMC instead of a military hospital.

4. Mental illness runs in my family on my mom's side. The eldest first-born son has been diagnosed as insane in my mothers sisters family. My own first born is diagnosed as bipolar with psychotic.
I have been treated on and off for depression since the mid-1990's

5. In the 1990's the Federal and State governments closed the mental health facilities which treated and housed many of the more serious mentally ill. They released the individuals and many became homeless and died on the streets [cold, violence, suicide, etc. ]
7. Mental health is a human issue much broader than the VAMC. Organizations and research facilities share information on assessment and treatment within this nation and internationally. Some conditions are well documented including psychoses, neuroses, rabies, amnesia, ADD, ADHD. Since we are each unique medications and treatments which successfully street some don't treat others effectively.
7. The VA and EMT and crisis counselors deal with physical trauma which impacts the mind or more accurately the brain - such as TBI and PTSD.

8. The best approach is as it always has been. Personal relationships with trustworthy friends and families. As neighborhoods are restored and neighborly relationships you can expect an improvement in mental health identification and reduction in suicides.