[Girlene]

Did you see what the doctor in Harlingen, Texas said? His boss issued a rule that to get a colonoscopy the patient had to have three stool screenings with blood. The doctor said by this time it was at stage 4 cancer.

Holy cow. Here's the story in the Examiner, Whistleblower says Veterans Affairs cost-cutting led to denials, delays in life-saving cancer tests

The same source said ...that an office secretary deleted about 1,800 orders for medical tests or other services to eliminate a backlog that threatened a certification inspection from an outside group.

Unbelievable.

[Qiviut]

This is homicide, IMO. "Cost cutting" is not an excuse - the VA has been running a budget SURPLUS for the last 5 years.

VA Nickel and Dimed Vets to Death While Running a Surplus for 5 Years

VA expects to carry over $450 million in medical-care funding from fiscal year 2014 to fiscal year 2015. VA received its full requested medical care appropriation of $54.6 billion this fiscal year, which is more than $10 billion more than it received four years ago.

This is part of an ongoing trend.

VA carried over $1.449 billion in medical-care funding from fiscal year 2010 to 2011, $1.163 billion from fiscal year 2011 to fiscal year 2012, $637 million from fiscal year 2012 to 2013, and $543 million from fiscal year 2013 to 2014.