Here are the answers.
Posted on 05/28/2014 10:07:54 PM PDT by Nachum
Sparks flew during a rare late-night hearing before the House Veterans Affairs Committee, as visibly upset Republicans raked VA officials over the coals while the ink was still wet on a scathing inspector general report condemning the agency's deadly failures.
The report found that in Phoenix, Arizona alone, 1,700 U.S. military veterans were denied medical care and others waited an average of 115 days to be seen by a doctor – and that officials covered up the lapses by manipulating wait-lists and other official records.
Tennessee Republican Rep. Phil Roe, a physician and veteran of the Army Medical Corps, summed up the mood on Capitol Hill when he addressed Dr. Thomas Lynch, the VA's assistant deputy undersecretary for health.
Noting that the three officials at the witness table are well-paid but presided over a system that ignored the needs of cash-strapped veterans who are locked into the VA health system, he leveled a sledgehammer at Lynch
'What I don't understand is, as a veteran – as a doctor, as a practitioner – I don't understand how you can stand at a mirror and look at yourself in the mirror, and shave in the morning, and not throw up,' he said, 'knowing that you've got people out there ... how in the world?'
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
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What was it I read? For FIVE consecutive years the VA has had more money than they could spend? Obastard has known about this since he was a spinator. Shakwhatshisname and obastard rolled out the damn fool idea of troops paying for their own rehabilitation for war wounds, OUT OF POCKET, just after the POS was sworn in in 2009.
NOTHING WILL HAPPEN. NOTHING.
Does Congress really believe their own records are better than those of the civil self servants?
What? You want obama to care? Well all you have to do is show him that some muslims were mistreated and he’ll be on it! Oh, did you say that they were simply American soldiers who have kept their part of the contract with the government? Right, he’ll have a fact finding commission look into that in a few months, maybe, but you know he has something really important to do right now like fundraising and blaming Bush for the last five years,
No, they will make it an “ongoing investigation” so they can’t talk about it. Holder is on it right now.
There is only one thing I want obastard to do. Caring is not in the running.
What was it I read? For FIVE consecutive years the VA has had more money than they could spend?
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Yup. They also “managed to blow $500 million on office furniture while denying life-saving tests”.
this kind of gov’t abuse is really hard to take.
They don`t understand...things are proceeding EXACTLY as this administration planned. The VA is an experiment in disposability for ALL government healthcare. Mengele lives!
I keep hearing this IS a republican failure that they are holding up the funding??
Is there any truth to this?
Seems to me it’s time for a veteran’s march on Washington- with pitchforks and ropes.
I appreciate all the anger now coming from Congress, however they are in general just as guilty or more because Congress is notorious in not exercising its own responsibilities to CONTINUOUSLY maintain oversight over the federal agencies it creates. It creates them, turns over power and responsibility on them, provides funds for them and then leaves them on autopilot - until the shit hits the fan.
There is a Patient Advocate system in the VA, where any Veteran in any medical relationship with any VA facility can seek assistance from the PA office in that facility for any matter where they question what care they are getting. But the PA reports to the local director of the VA facility. The director can then keep their desk as the last desk that sees any large issue being up by the Patient Advocates. A change that is needed is to have the Patient Advocate’s changed to report to and come under the Inspector General for the VA. Then Congress needs annual reports from the Inspector General that summarize and where needed detail the issues being lifted up by the Patient Advocates. Such a system would have made the VA delays well known to Congress years ago and every year before this year.
A Congress informed annually in that manner would not be able to sweep under the rug their own failure to act. If the VA is running poorly now and Congress is upset about it they, Congress, needs to apologize for the very poor oversight they have exercised over the VA for many years. The same could be said of many federal agencies.
Step 1 in fixing the problem is employing only vets at the VA.
The growth in the VA budget has been second to only two other agencies over the past 15 years...by about 3 times. One of those was Homeland Security, which scarcely existed 15 years ago.
The past five years, the VA has actually reported a surplus of funds they were unable to spend for at least five years.
According to analysis, there has been funding carry overs the past 5 years now.
“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.”
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...are-funding-than-it-can-spend-for-fifth-year/
If these wounded and sick veterans declared themselves as Muslim terrorists, Obummer will go out of his way to make sure they get best healthcare. The Gitmo prisoners get to see a doctor on the same day they need one.
The past five years, the VA has actually reported a surplus of funds they were unable to spend for at least five years.-—was any of this due to the republicans blocking ?
This was ALL done so BONUSES would be given to the UNION BEAURACRATS period no other reason!!!!!
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