Posted on 06/25/2015 12:46:10 PM PDT by Olog-hai
The Department of Veterans Affairs said Thursday it faces a budget shortfall of more than $2.5 billion, mainly because of increased demand by veterans for health care, including new life-saving treatments for Hepatitis C.
Deputy VA Secretary Sloan Gibson told a House committee that VA health care sites experienced a 10.5 percent increase in workload for the 12-month period that ended in April.
The VA needs flexibility from Congress to close the budget gap, Gibson said, adding that the agency is considering furloughs, hiring freezes and other significant moves.
The VA wants to use money from the new Veterans Choice program to pay for the increased health care, Gibson said. The program, the centerpiece of a VA overhaul approved last year, makes it easier for veterans to receive federally paid medical care from local doctors. Congress approved $10 billion over three years for the Choice program as it responded to a scandal over long waits for veterans seeking medical care and falsified records to cover up the delays. …
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
Then I would demand that the VA show exactly where every cent was spent.
Any government agency that asks for more money should be required by law to provide a report of what they spent the money on and an explanation of why they need more (what it will be spent on).
A lot of it is going down the money pit in Denver’s new VA hospital.
Still waiting for my call back from VA on Choice Program enrollment.
I don’t work *at* the VA but I do contract work with them and the thing I see most is outrageous levels of bureaucracy that are probably the response to all the demands from Washington. An organization can spend money three ways - one on doing the actual work needed to provide service, two on the paperwork surrounding the actual work needed to provide service or three on lining the pockets of the bureaucrats who run the organization. The VA is filled with two and three, leaving little money leftover for the primary work. It combines government and unionization which are the surest ways to waste money not achieving the primary goal.
Ban a flag. That will save it.
Sure, after blowing VA money on non-necessities.
I have a close family member who does work for the VA...he says it’s impossible to get people to do their work right or well because they know their job is secure. They have zero incentive....
He saved the tax payers “Millions” by his work but had to ‘fight very hard ‘within’ the bureaucracy’ to get past those who simply want things to remain as they are...which is they aren’t interested in saving taxpayers money...not at all.
I can’t say more but to say there are people on top of things currently in Washington regarding the VA...and have been doing so for months now.
They had a 10.5% increase in patients in a year? Why?
How can this be???? I understood that the VA was saving money by murdering Veterans through neglect.
Let them put out a “TIP” jar and see what they can get!!!
NOT ONE MORE DIME!!! Poor service should = lower pay.
They can start by cutting their queer diversity programs.
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