If there's one sure-fire way to spur government into action, it's public shame. And in the case of the Walter Reed Medical Center, it doesn't get much more shameful.

In a series of reports, the Washington Post highlighted dismal living conditions for some outpatient soldiers, and documented a bureaucratic quagmire that prevented many troops from getting any adequate care at all.

And this is at a facility that has long been regarded as the nation's preeminent veterans hospital.

Predictably, the scandal claimed several careers, including Secretary of the Army Francis J. Harvey and the medical center's previous commander, Maj. Gen. George Weighton. Of course, with public shame of this magnitude, that wasn't enough. President Bush has called for a review of conditions at numerous military and veteran hospitals across the nation, including Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawa'i, and investigations of the Walter Reed scandal are sure to follow.

Indeed, oversight and accountability — the lack of which, no doubt, have contributed to this disgrace — are what is needed now and in the future to prevent it from happening again.

But Walter Reed Medical Center is merely symptomatic of a gross lack of funding when it comes to the Department of Veterans Affairs. With two wars — in Iraq and Afghanistan — the need to provide quality healthcare to our veterans is crucial. Modern technology and medical advancements have kept alive soldiers who otherwise would have died. But these positive developments mean more will return home with disabilites that require lifelong care. In its planning for the war, the government has clearly failed to take this need into account.

While the Bush administration has amped up its call for more funding for the war, there has been no call for proportionate funding for our veterans.

Yet another shameful result of this lack of funding was highlighted in a recent article in The Advertiser, which exposed a serious backlog at the VA. More than a quarter of military veterans with disability cases before the VA wait six months or longer for the agency's decision, forcing many to go through bankruptcy and homelessness.

As of March 3, the VA had almost 401,000 pending cases for disability compensation with almost 115,000 waiting for six months or more. In many cases, veterans were forced to justify their injuries before receiving medical attention.

This is no way to treat the men and women who have sacrificed so much for their country.

Sen. Daniel Akaka, chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, recently called for an increase of $2.9 billion in funding for veterans' medical care over the president's 2008 fiscal year budget request. The increase would include an additional $300 million for treatment of traumatic brain injuries and $693 million for Veterans Affairs mental-health programs.

The funds would also provide VA with the resources to meet the needs of the thousands of service members presently on medical hold at Walter Reed and other military facilities, according to Akaka.

Clearly, these funds are needed. With no end to the war in sight, thousands of wounded soldiers are sure to come home in need of VA services once they are out of the military. Sadly, this is not a prediction, it's a guarantee.

So as the government continues its rallying cry — "Support Our Troops" — let it remember that to do so means supporting them long after they leave the battlefield. Let the investigations ensue, accountability be enforced and funds flow.

And let these systemic flaws be fixed now — while the shame of Walter Reed still burns in the public's conscience.