The health care system set up to help the men and women who served their country is failing. A 23-year-old veteran of Iraqi Freedom shared a story Thursday during a meeting in St. George with Veterans' Affairs officials that illustrates the point: He was told that he had to drive to Salt Lake City to receive medical treatment for mental distress.

When will those who've served this country so valiantly receive relief and the benefits they repeatedly have been promised? The Veterans Benefits Administration has experienced problems with its claims-processing operations with large backlogs and long waits for decisions with which veterans should have few complications.

Compensation and pensions, education subsidies, home loans, life insurance, vocational rehabilitation and employment, dependency and indemnity compensation are all benefits veterans may qualify for but are finding it difficult to actually receive. Why?

One issue is the complexity of the process. The application for compensation and/or pension alone is 26 pages long.

Need more evidence? The average time for processing initial compensation from a disability claim in 1999 was 205 days, according to testimony taken May 18, 2000, from Cynthia A. Bascetta, U.S. General Accounting Office director of health care. When veterans appeal decisions made by regional offices, the average time spent to resolve the appeals is even longer: An average of 745 days. That was nearly six years ago, and the wait time has not improved dramatically. Just ask a veteran.

Streamlining the process now for benefits is urgent because, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 24.5 million U.S. military veterans in 2005. Nearly 500 troops from the Utah National Guard's 2nd Battalion, 222nd Field Artillery will be returning in the coming months to Southern Utah. They deserve more than parades and welcome-home ceremonies. They also deserve local mental and physical health care services and educational stipends.

A U.S. House bill provides scholarships for combat veterans, in addition to death benefits of almost $70,000, including up to $10,000 for funeral expenses, for families of people killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sen. Rob Garagiola, D-Montgomery, a former Marine, has introduced the same bill in the Senate.

We encourage Congress to pass this bill because we simply cannot do enough for the veterans who've served this country. It is because of them freedom still rings.