Some personnel are allowed to use work hours as ‘union hours’ and then charge for overtime for work hours. This is money that could have gone to patient care:
“VA “employees not performing government work could compromise the well-being of our nation’s veterans,” the senators write.
The senators are questioning a federal practice dubbed “official time,” whereby taxpayers foot the bill for salaries and benefits for federal workers who perform union duties instead of the “jobs they were initially hired to do,” the senators note.
The VA is now paying for an overtime “surge” to cut its huge claims backlog, while VA workers do union work, the senators note, tax dollars that could instead be spent on vets.”
also, there’s the nursing problem, as in a problem of nurses having necessary rudimentary skills:
http://www.businessinsider.com/too-many-nurses-at-the-va-dont-know-what-the-hell-theyre-doing-2012-5
forgot to add, and then there are those workers, who can’t be bothered to sterilize equipment, resulting in spread of HIV and hepatitis:
Substandard Hygiene Practices At Some VA Hospitals
“At the St. Louis VA medical center, the cleaning of reusable dental equipment was unsatisfactory between February 2009 and March 2010...The Committee said that even after actions by a dentist employed by VA from 1982-2010 came to the public’s attention, the VA has shown an apparent lack of leadership and has not fully acted in response.”
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/226889.php
Of course, there are some great people working for the VA and I am thankful for them. I’m highlighting some of the worst stories to help with your ‘argument’.