Posted on 06/22/2015 7:03:44 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
No one at the VA has gotten the ax for falsifying records that showed veterans waiting months for medical care. And no one will probably be fired for continued incompetence at the VA.
The number of veterans seeking health care but ending up on waiting lists of one month or more is 50 percent higher now than it was a year ago when scandal over false records and long wait times wracked the Department of Veterans Affairs, The New York Times reported.
The VA also faces a budget shortfall of nearly $3 billion, the Times reported in a story posted online ahead of its Sunday editions. The agency is considering furloughs, hiring freezes and other significant moves to reduce the gap, the newspaper reported.
In the last year, the VA has increased capacity by more than 7 million patient visits per year, double what officials originally thought they needed to fix shortcomings, the Times reported. However, the newspaper added, department officials did not anticipate just how much physician workloads and demand from veterans would continue to soar. At some major veterans hospitals, demand was up by one-fifth, the paper reported.
Citing interviews with department officials and internal department budget documents it had obtained, the Times reported that doctors and nurses have handled 2.7 million more appointments than in any previous year, while authorizing 900,000 additional patients to see outside physicians.
The Times also reported intense internal debate at the VA over a proposal to address a shortage of funds for a new, more effective but more costly hepatitis C treatment by possibly rationing new treatments among veterans. Certain patients who have advanced terminal diseases or suffer from a “persistent vegetative state or advanced dementia” would be excluded under that plan, the paper reported.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
I fail to understand why there were not criminal charges. VA officials falsified records to get bonuses and that would be criminal fraud.... so where was the federal grand jury investigation?
I have yet to wait for any appointment.
I read someplace where the VA Hospital in Fresno CA was lighting off fireworks.
Was that to show it was the one millionth veteran who died?
lol! I think...
it is impossible to improve the VA because the government employee union will not allow it and union power supersedes all other.
...and the va continues on...murdering Veterans through neglect.
In 1967 the recruiter trying to get me to enlist into the Navy told me that one good reason to do so was that I would have free medical care for the rest of my life.
I lost my job about 15 years ago and ended up starting my own business but before that I could not afford medical insurance so I decided to take my recruiter up on what he said. The truth is, not so much. Yes I can go to the VA and see a doctor for $50.00, a pretty good price in todays market. They wanted to do a sleep study, the appointment was 11 months out. They wanted me to get an MRI that was only 2-1/2 months out. It isn’t always like that, twice a year I get a checkup and that is scheduled about a month in advance and I usually don’t have to wait more than a few minutes to make my appointment. Pills only cost $8.00 per month regardless of what the pill is.
Most of the specialists are interns supervised by someone who knows what he is doing. That means they check you over tell the Dr. in charge who looks at you to confirm the intern was correct. Hey, for $50.00 who can complain.
I’m glad I have it but it isn’t quite what my recruiter told me it would be.
thank you for your post. I can appreciate what you’ve been thru.
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