mr. filner. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. dr. satel, with regard to your proposal, are you saying the veteran will not seek the treatment, the disabled veteran, because he has financial obligations and also maybe possibly because of a stigma? and then i want to also -- well, why don't you ask -- why don't you answer that question first? >> well, the reason for the financial stipend would be because if we expect people to be in treatment and even if the possibility was endorsed of actually requiring it and i know that's very controversial, meaning requiring it as a condition of being considered for disability, you certainly can't expect somebody to be in treatment, intensive care before -- intensive care that, a, that takes up a lot of their time where they would otherwise be working or that they are simply not fit to work. you can't expect that of them without -- without providing income support. >> and i definitely need -- and definitely we have to have this stipend if we go forward with this. the other question is, how long --

mr. chairman miller, ranking member filner and members of the committee.u for giving me the opportunity to testify today. >> i will begin by placing my comments in context. i'm a primary care internist based at one va facility, the san francisco va medical center. in this capacity, i direct the integrated care clinic for oef veterans. the clinic at the san francisco va medical center is novel in that it offers all new oef veterans a one-stop three-part initial visit with a primary care provider, a mental health clinician and a social worker. the integrated care clinic providers are all integrated and colocated within the primary care clinic. and are trained to address post deployment health concerns. i'm also an associate professor of medicine and psychiatry at the university of california san francisco and in this capacity conduct clinical research that is focused on a better understanding on veterans who use va health care. based on my experience as a clinician and researcher, i offer my perspective first on the mental health problems on veterans who use