VA scandal: 'Drastic' proposal stirs fears of privatizing veterans' care

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Arizona Republic :

Controversy over the Department of Veterans Affairs' future swells with fears, conspiracy theories and accusations of false propaganda.

Dennis Wagner

April 1, 2016

 

A proposal to make "drastic changes" in the medical-care system for U.S. military vets has created a rift within the federal commission appointed to come up with reform plans for the beleaguered Department of Veterans Affairs.

 

Some members of the VA Commission on Care last month issued a so-called "Strawman Document" asserting that the Veterans Health Administration "is seriously broken and, because of the breadth and depth of the shortfalls, there is no efficient path to repair it."

 

The 34-page report, so nicknamed because it is not fully fleshed out, was produced by Commissioner David Blum and six other members of the 15-person panel. They called for a complete transformation that would let all eligible veterans choose between VA and private care and would radically downsize the Veterans Health Administration.

 

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Veterans Groups Criticize Secret Proposal to End VA Healthcare

 

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Five of the seven commissioners backing the shutdown of VA health care are Republican appointees, including all three named by former House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio before he resigned last year. Concerned Veterans for America, the group advised by Selnick, is a lobbying group largely funded by the billionaire Koch brothers that seeks to cut budgets and responsibilities of the VA.

 

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The Horror...The Horror....The Horror

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Joint VSO Letter to the Commission on Care

 

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Last December, a number of our organizations were provided an opportunity to present to the Commission our visions for the future of VA health care, based on feedback from our members users of the system. We laid out a number of comprehensive reforms for the VA health care system, which were centered on veterans health care needs and preferences. We proposed a number of transformative changes, including the development of local Veteran-Centered Integrated Health Care Networks to seamlessly integrate community care into the VA system to provide a full continuum of care for veterans. We called for VA to eliminate arbitrary federal access standards such as the current 40-mile and 30-day standards and allow decisions about when and where veterans can receive medical treatment to be clinical decisions made between a veteran and his or her doctor; not by legislators, regulators or bureaucrats. We recommended expanded public-private partnerships, a new Quadrennial Veterans Review strategic planning process and audits of VAs spending and a number of other serious reforms to evolve the VA system of care.

 

We believe that our recommendations, if adopted, would restore and sustain a veterans health care system worthy of the men and women who served this nation with integrity and honor. We are also supportive of VAs plan, with some recommended changes, and believe it too would put the VA health care system on a path to meeting veterans needs in the future. However, we are convinced that the end state envisioned by the proposed strawman document would decrease access to high quality, comprehensive and truly veteran-centric care for millions of veterans, particularly those who were injured or made ill through their service. That is why we would strongly denounce the Commissions final report if the Commission recommends privatizing the VA health care system or making VA simply a payer of health care for veterans.

 

As you know, the law authorizing the Commission requires you to make recommendations about how, to improve access to health care through the Veterans Health Administration. Unfortunately, the proposed strawman document does not include options to strengthen VA health care; instead it calls for transitional changes towards eliminating the VA health system altogether within 20 years.

 

 

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The VA Scandal: Two Years On
Our veterans deserve better from the nation they have served.
Pete Hegseth
April 7, 2016


The Veterans Affairs–​scandal headlines speak for themselves. The Daily Beast: “Veteran Burned Himself Alive outside VA Clinic”; azfamily.com: “Dead veterans canceling their own appointments?”; New York Times: “Report Finds Sharp Increase in Veterans Denied V.A. Benefits,” “More than 125,000 U.S. veterans are being denied crucial mental health services,” and “Rubio, Miller ask committee to back VA accountability bills.”

Are these headlines from 2014, when the VA scandal broke? The sad answer is no. All these headlines — and so many more — are from the past ten days, a fact that also speaks for itself.

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But the most troubling — and effective — opponents of reform are veterans’ service organizations. Almost all the D.C.-based veterans’ groups (excepting my former organization, Concerned Veterans for America) reflexively defend the status quo — kissing the rings of VA officials, cutting cozy congressional deals behind the scenes, and falling over themselves for the next White House invitation. Vets’ groups should be the VA’s watchdogs, but instead they’re self-interested lapdogs. None have introduced any bold or new ideas since the scandal started, and all have mastered the art of blocking meaningful reforms. Until D.C.-based veterans’ groups, who wield a lot of power with individual congressmen and senators, start to represent their members, who do want meaningful reform, such reform is extremely tough.

Thankfully, both a forthcoming VA commission report, and soon-to-be-introduced legislation, will chart a course for real, systemic VA reform. Both will represent yet another stand-up-and-be-counted moment for so-called veterans advocates. The report, from the Commission on Care, is already being mischaracterized and attacked by the usual suspects — including, you guessed it, veterans’ groups. Reform legislation will also be disingenuously attacked. But for those of us who know how broken the VA is — and aren’t interested in being liked by the VA or invited to the White House Christmas party — we will continue to fight like hell to give veterans the top-notch service they have earned.

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More VA Fail: VA Falsified Vet Wait Times in 7 States
Kemberlee Kaye
Friday, April 8, 2016

Is there a worse government entity than the Veterans Administration? Maybe, but it’s virtually inconceivable how the VA consistently manages to outdo it’s record of fail with even more fail.

In seven states, supervisor fudged wait times to make it appear as though wait time requirements were being met. They were not.

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Because it wasn’t bad enough that one-third of the vets on the wait list passed away before receiving care, or that the wait times for care continue to climb, or that in the midst of this nasty scandal, VA officials awarded more than $142 million in bonuses…

 

The VA has one job to do, and they can’t seem to get it right.

 

 

Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton drew the ire of veteran advocacy groups for saying the VA scandal was not, “as widespread as it was made out to be.” Despite calls to recant her remarks, Clinton refused to apologize.