Veterans scandal risks engulfing Obama

Locutus

Locutus

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Amid contrived outrage over Benghazi and the improving fortunes of its healthcare reform, the Obama administration could be facing a genuine scandal about its treatment of military veterans that has the potential to attract broad political condemnation of its competence.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is facing mounting evidence that some of the hospitals it runs have been keeping two sets of books to make it look as if they were reducing waiting times to see a doctor.

More damning, the department is investigating the claims of a whistleblower doctor in Arizona that dozens of patients at one hospital died while they were languishing on a hidden waiting list without ever being given an appointment.

Richard Griffin, the department’s acting inspector general, admitted on Thursday that its review could lead to criminal charges. In the first political casualty of the scandal, Robert Petzel, the department’s undersecretary for heath, resigned on Friday.

If the evidence of mismanagement continues to accumulate, the Obama administration will find itself not in another partisan knife-fight, but under fire from both parties in a Congress where the uniformed military is venerated.

The veterans’ healthcare scandal is, in part, one of the unintended consequences of the wars in Afghanistan in Iraq, which have created “our 9/11 generation who have served with honour in more than a decade of war,” as President Barack Obama described them on Thursday.

More than 970,000 veterans from those wars have filed disability claims, taking the total enrolled in the VA system to 8.57m by the end of 2012.

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Veterans scandal risks engulfing Obama - FT.com


related


Government accused of hiding long hospital waiting lists...
DAMAGE CONTROL: VA forces retiring official to resign...
 
Goober

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To think Obama knew is folly. Bureaucrats. The ones that contrived this should go to jail. And the reason it is plural is this incident is in more than one VA Hospital. Not a believer in capital punishment.
This story has been out for a week or so.
Read it and complete disgust boiled within. How can people do such a thing.
No different than committing mass murders. No differance at all.
I am sure that in the USA they have a law for just about everything.
Jail the coxcksuckers heartless bastarxrds.
All for fuking numbers. Fuking numbers. Fukin stats.
 
gopher

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we've had a number of ''scandals'' that will bring down the White House over the years - I'm betting this one will meet the same futile fate as the others
 
Locutus

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Timeline: The story behind the VA scandal

The Obama administration is facing a serious scandal in which government officials are alleged to have falsified data to hide how long veterans were waiting to see doctors at VA hospitals. The controversy has led to calls for the resignation of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, who has served for five years. Here is a timeline of events leading up to the current situation, which President Obama on Wednesday called "intolerable" and "disgraceful."


• Early 2012: Dr. Katherine Mitchell, a Veterans Affairs emergency-room physician, warns Sharon Helman, incoming director of the Phoenix VA Health Care System, that the Phoenix ER is overwhelmed and dangerous. Mitchell now alleges she was told within days by senior administrators that she had deficient communication skills and was transferred out of the ER.

• Later in 2012: The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs orders implementation of electronic wait-time tracking and makes improved patient access a top priority. In December, the Government Accountability Office tells the Veterans Health Administration that its reporting of outpatient medical-appointment wait times is "unreliable."

• March 2013: The GAO's Debra Draper tells a House subcommittee: "Although access to timely medical appointments is critical to ensuring that veterans obtain needed medical care, long wait times and inadequate scheduling processes at VAMCs (medical centers) have been persistent problems."

• July 2013: In an e-mail exchange among employees at the Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center in Phoenix, an employee questions whether administrators are improperly touting their Wildly Important Goals program. "I think it's unfair to call any of this a success when veterans are waiting six weeks on an electronic waiting list before they're called to schedule their first PCP (primary-care provider) appointment," program analyst Damian Reese complains.

• September 2013: Mitchell files a confidential complaint intended for the VA Office of Inspector General, channeled through Arizona Sen. John McCain's office. Her list of concerns instead goes to the Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs and eventually back to the VA. Mitchell, meanwhile, is placed on administrative leave.

• October 2013: Dr. Sam Foote, a doctor of internal medicine at the Phoenix VA, files a complaint with the VA Office of Inspector General alleging purported successes in reducing wait times stem from manipulation of data, and that vets are dying while awaiting appointments for medical care.

• December 2013: Foote retires, assuming the role of whistle-blower by meeting with Arizona Republic reporter Dennis Wagner. He details allegations that patients have died while awaiting care at the Phoenix VA and that wait times have been falsified.

• April 9: Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, says during a hearing that dozens of VA hospital patients in Phoenix may have died while awaiting medical care. He says staff investigators have evidence that the Phoenix VA Health Care System keeps two sets of records to conceal prolonged waits for appointments.

• April 16: A Phoenix rally organized by Concerned Veterans for America and attended by Rep. David Schweikert, R-Ariz., draws 150 veterans and their supporters calling for solutions to the controversy.

• May 1: U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki places Helman and two others on administrative leave pending an outcome to the inspector general's probe.

• May 2: Mitchell goes public with her allegations about mismanagement of the Phoenix VA system and her concerns about wait times, noting that she and a co-worker moved to protect some documents as evidence.

• May 5: The American Legion's national leaders call for Shinseki's resignation. Shinseki says he intends to stay put.

• May 8: Shinseki orders records audits of all VA health-care facilities around the U.S. a day after U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Ariz., makes the request.

• May 9: McCain, R-Ariz., holds a town hall in Phoenix where he proposes a new system that would allow veterans to go outside the VA to seek private health care at government expense.


Timeline: The story behind the VA scandal


so many 'phony scandals' so little time.
 
EagleSmack

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Fear not... NPR, the tax payer funded and mouth piece of the Democrat Party has released a story today saying that the VA is in good shape and veterans are happy with it.
 
Walter

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Can't blame BHO for this because he didn't know about it.
 
H

Highball

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In my opinion the Veterans Administration is so huge and bloated it will be almost impossible to correct the problems that now exist. Obama's mission to fix it will be just another dark hole where the taxpayers pour money into it. The VA medical system has many fine employees BUT it is poorly managed. Those in the management positions are not going to change and until they are relieved of duty this will amount to another waste of time and money.
 
Locutus

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Michelle MalkinVerified account ‏@michellemalkin

ICYMI: Memo of the day - Obama admin KNEW of 17 VA book-cooking tactics in 2010, did nothing ==>



This memo shows that the VA knew of records manipulation in 2010

By Josh Hicks Updated: May 20 at 5:24 pm

Robert Petzel resigned last week as the top health official for the Department of Veterans Affairs, just one day after testifying before a Senate committee that he knew VA health clinics were using inappropriate scheduling practices as early as 2010.

Whistleblowers claim the schemes continued until this year, leading to a recent wave of outrage that sent the VA and White House scrambling to correct the alleged problems and restore confidence in the department.

Petzel admitted that he knew of the issue after Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) questioned him about the memo below, in which a top VA executive warned the directors of all VA health networks that questionable scheduling practices would “not be tolerated.”

The message summarized at least 17 tactics that VA hospitals were known to have used to hide treatment delays and give the impression they were meeting the department’s goal of seeing patients within 14 to 30 days.

2010 VA memo.pdf

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This memo shows that the VA knew of records manipulation in 2010 | Federal Eye
 
Locutus

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Nancy Pelosi blames George W. Bush for Veterans Affairs scandal

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., repeatedly put the blame for the Veterans Affairs scandal on former President George W. Bush, while arguing that her party has worked hard for veterans in recent years.

Pelosi took a shot at Bush while saying that the scandal is a high priority for Obama. "He sees the ramifications of some seeds that were sown a long time ago, when you have two wars over a long period of time and many, many more, millions more veterans," she told reporters during her Thursday press briefing. "And so, I know that he is upset about it."

The Democratic leader never mentioned Bush by name, but she alluded to him early and often in the press briefing.

"Maybe when we go into war, we should be thinking about its consequences and its ramifications," Pelosi said while discussing the scandal. "You would think that would be a given, but maybe it wasn't. And so, we go in a war in Afghanistan, leave Afghanistan for Iraq with unfinished business in Afghanistan. Ten years later, we have all of these additional veterans. In the past five years, two million more veterans needing benefits from the VA. That's a huge, huge increase."

She suggested that Obamacare might hold the key to solving the problem. "We have the Affordable Care Act that is out there that is providing resources for more federally-qualified health clinics around the country," Pelosi said. "Maybe we should take a look at how we deal with our veterans' needs in a way that says let's help them closer to home, whether that's a federally qualified health clinic or in some other institution that provides health care closer to home. [It's] especially important for our veterans who live in rural areas."



Nancy Pelosi blames George W. Bush for Veterans Affairs scandal | WashingtonExaminer.com
 
pgs

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Locutus said:
Nancy Pelosi blames George W. Bush for Veterans Affairs scandal

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., repeatedly put the blame for the Veterans Affairs scandal on former President George W. Bush, while arguing that her party has worked hard for veterans in recent years.

Pelosi took a shot at Bush while saying that the scandal is a high priority for Obama. "He sees the ramifications of some seeds that were sown a long time ago, when you have two wars over a long period of time and many, many more, millions more veterans," she told reporters during her Thursday press briefing. "And so, I know that he is upset about it."

The Democratic leader never mentioned Bush by name, but she alluded to him early and often in the press briefing.

"Maybe when we go into war, we should be thinking about its consequences and its ramifications," Pelosi said while discussing the scandal. "You would think that would be a given, but maybe it wasn't. And so, we go in a war in Afghanistan, leave Afghanistan for Iraq with unfinished business in Afghanistan. Ten years later, we have all of these additional veterans. In the past five years, two million more veterans needing benefits from the VA. That's a huge, huge increase."

She suggested that Obamacare might hold the key to solving the problem. "We have the Affordable Care Act that is out there that is providing resources for more federally-qualified health clinics around the country," Pelosi said. "Maybe we should take a look at how we deal with our veterans' needs in a way that says let's help them closer to home, whether that's a federally qualified health clinic or in some other institution that provides health care closer to home. [It's] especially important for our veterans who live in rural areas."



Nancy Pelosi blames George W. Bush for Veterans Affairs scandal | WashingtonExaminer.com
Click to expand...
But but Barack promised to fix it . Remember .
 
Retired_Can_Soldier

Retired_Can_Soldier

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This is really not a left or right issue for me. Our vets went out when called, it behooves us to remember that and provide them the care and services they so rightly deserve. That goes for the Potus and the PM.

gopher said:
Blame Obama!
Click to expand...

Goph, is Obama accountable for anything in your book or is everything the Republicans fault? This is an honest question.
 
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