Butte County veteran shares concerns about lagging financial disbursements

This Vietnam veteran said he has not received any of his travel reimbursements for travel to medical care since June of 2020.

Here is what he found out about the delay.

A butte county veteran says he has not been receiving reimbursements for travel since june.

Action news now reporter amy lanski spoke to the veteran about how this is impacting him.

Amy standup: "i spoke to the vietnam veteran about how this is impacting him and other financially, he says for some it's become a choice of health care or food."

Robin toney- vietnam veteran "when you are paying gas and spending all that timem and not getting your reimbursements for some people it is probably food on their plate you know... do i not go see the doctor or do i not eat?

Robin toney served from 1970 to 1974.

Robin: "i spent a year at vietnam and as a result i have a lot of vascular problems, i just recently had a vascular bypass on my leg which is a result of agent orange."

Toney says the last payment he received was in june.

But says he has made plenty of trips to sacramento and redding for medical help since then.

Robin: "and i have had many visits a couple of angioplasty surgeries on my legs and all the testing involved with it, this has been going on almost seven months now."

Toney says he called down to mathur and they said they were in the process of changing how they reimbursed veterans.

Robin: "the guy who i talked to about six weeks ago and he said 'i don't know they didn't train us on this and i don't know when they are going to go out.'

I talked to the women in redding who does travel benefits and she has been very helpful in the past and she said her hands were tied."

Amy standup: "i did reach out to the veterans office in redding and came by the one here in chico, but it was already closed for the day and i did not hear back from redding.

However, it is a friday afternoon, and i left messages to hopefully hear back soon.

Reporting in chico, amy lanski action news now coverage you can count on.

Toney says he has also been in touch with doug lamalfa's staff and is trying to get help through them.

He added until this he has always received amazing care from veterans affairs.

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