Posted on 04/23/2015 5:04:42 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
In a voice choked with emotion, Rustyann Brown told lawmakers Wednesday how the Department of Veterans Affairs routinely turned its back on veterans and their families, even in death.
Mrs. Brown, a former employee in the VA’s Oakland office, was assigned one day in 2012 to a special team given the job of reviewing more than 13,000 veterans’ claims dating back to the mid-1990s that had never been addressed. As they sorted through the mounds of papers, she said, they often discovered that the veterans had long since died without receiving the requested benefits.
In those cases, Mrs. Brown testified, VA managers instructed employees to mark the files “NAN” — for “no action necessary.” But she said taking that step also prevented a veteran’s survivors from receiving benefits.
“If the widow ever came in to file a claim … there’s nothing there,” she told the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, her voice breaking. “There’s no information about her husband. On a daily basis, we were seeing piles of [claims] set aside. It was our obligation to contact that family. We didn’t do that. We should have.”
A VA official from Oakland assured lawmakers that the agency has since taken care of all the old claims, but Mrs. Brown called that “a lie.”
VA Assistant Inspector General Linda Halliday testified Wednesday that as recently as last month, her office discovered another 1,300 old documents in the Oakland office, including “claims that still require action.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Are the VA employees all civil service union types?
That reminds me of the time I was asked to locate a gypsy fortune teller / psychic who kept moving all over this place to avoid being found. Because shewas alo a grifter (aren’t they all?) I simply called her up, told her I needed a reading, and asked her where I needed to go to get her to read me. She gave me her address without question and never guessed that was an investigator. Psychic my a$h
That reminds me of the time I was asked to locate a gypsy fortune teller / psychic who kept moving all over this place to avoid being found because she was also a grifter (aren’t they all?) I simply called her up, told her I needed a reading, and asked her where I needed to go to get her to read me. She gave me her address without question and never guessed that was an investigator. Psychic my a$h
“You will walk out of here $30 poorer.”
We already know the VA has been run, and is still being run, by greedy, uncaring, anti-American, opportunistic, political hacks.
So, my question id this: Why is this woman testifying before congress instead of to a Grand Jury?
How many more “congressional hearings” are needed before criminal indictments are handed down?
Or, are these latest hearings, like almost all congressional hearings, merely one more dog and pony show organized to allow a bunch of selfish, greedy, corrupt, uncaring and ineffectual politicians to drone on and on about how much they “care” about this issue, and to let them pontificate on how poorly OTHER people do their jobs, all the while taking NO action which might interfere with their continuous pursuit of perpetual re-election?
Don’t bother answering... I already know.
The only way any of this is going to be fixed is to fix the civil service union crap which is why we need either Scott Walker or Chris Christi.
The unions protect the employees at the expense of the veterans.
Are the VA employees all civil service union types?......I believe so. Elsewise, how do they get away with this crap?
Everyone needs to remember that the VA is socialized medicine. Whatever you see at the VA will be ten times worse when the government gets a hold of the medical system..
In 2012, they were finally forced to look at claims made in the mid 1990s.
That’s around 17 years.
What would happen if a VA employee wasn’t paid for 17 years?
What if you weren’t paid for 17 years?
This isn’t mere laziness or incompetence. This is an organized assault upon Veterans by the management of the VA.
Why? Think about it.
Why the Veterans?
“How many more “congressional hearings” are needed before criminal indictments are handed down?”
Loretta Lynch will no doubt hop on this as soon as she is confirmed.
I’m afraid Chris would mess up more than he would fix. Walker is the better of the two.
Remember Obama closed off the Veterans War Memorials immediately over the budget snafu. There is not much he hates worse than the military, maybe Fox News is first. Yet, I understand that a majority of military actives support him and voted for him. Amazing
The VA continues to murder Veterans through neglect. Nothing has changed...except the VA was given yet more money. It is ironic that the VA hates Veterans. Criminal. Disgusting.
Both have NO medical experience. Health care is more than financial and management.
I’d go with Ben Carson before either of these 2 non-medical people. And put him through Boot Camp too.
Under Disability: Memphis VA Hospital is so over loaded, you might get your 5 remaining rotten teeth pulled after a year’s wait, but the job of making molds and the dentures is being FARMED out to your dentist. If he/she will take the VA Assignment. Thankfully ours does, as he is Army Reserve. Took a year for the hearing aids. High quality ones, with batteries you don’t have to pay for. Those suckers are expensive.
If he’d applied 2 yrs earlier for Disability, he’d come under the Agent Orange regs. He was exposed aboard the USS Midway when they were pulling the Jolly Greens out of Nam with the AMB. Developed Retinitis of the eyes, has holes in his vision. Now glaucoma to add to it. Of course the Retinitis was not discovered until after his discharge after serving 20 yrs.
Don’t know about union, but civil service, yes. Between real jobs I worked for a few months at a VA, raking leaves. The pay was easily twice minimum wage. We’d rake the leaves, fill a pickup truck with them and take them to the city dump. We’d then sit at the dump, for an hour to avoid raking more leaves. When we got back, we’d take a break, load another truck load and go back to the dump. Then it was lunch time. There were three of us and we might make four trips to the dump a day.
The same work-ethic applied to the guys who inside. A guy might take an hour mopping one landing of a stair case. I assume the same attitude went all the way up the food chain to the guy sitting in hospital’s director’s chair.
Reminds me of a sign I saw once (I assume it was a joke): "Psychic wanted. You know where to apply."
Because a Grand Jury can actually file criminal charges with the local DA.
Congress will simply write a report, then move on to other pressing business, such as campaigning for re-election while collecting campaign donations from public service unions.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.