More than 300,000 veterans died waiting on VA health care

According to a new Department of Veterans Affairs inspector general report, “more than 300,000 American military veterans likely died while waiting for health care — and nearly twice as many are still waiting.”

The IG report says “serious” problems with enrollment data are making it impossible to determine exactly how many veterans are actively seeking health care from the VA, and how many were. For example, “data limitations” prevent investigators from determining how many now-deceased veterans applied for health care benefits or when.

The report also says VA workers incorrectly marked thousands of unprocessed health-care applications as completed and may have deleted 10,000 or more electronic “transactions” over the past five years.

More than 300,000 veterans died waiting on VA health care

As my nic suggests I am a Disabled American Veteran and I volunteer here at the local DAV center.
Not a day goes by around here when we have a vet walk in hoping we can help them out with health care.
Vets with heart problems forced to wait for months before they can see a doctor or the total screw-ups like this one from the lady chopper pilot who was scheduled for a prostate exam???

From the AG report

We substantiated the third allegation that employees incorrectly marked unprocessed applications as completed and possibly deleted 10,000 or more transactions from the Workload Reporting and Productivity (WRAP) tool over the past 5 years.

the HEC identified more than 11,000 unprocessed health care applications and about 28,000 transactions related to application updates, correspondence, and alerts in January 2013

What really pisses me off is for years we've gotten lip service from TPTB. telling us their going to fix this problem. But nothing ever happens... Oh sure they gave us this Choice card that was suppose to make things easier but that means I have to call choice people before I can see a doc then they need to get VA approval first and that again can be weeks of waiting before anyone will see me.

So nothing changes, Vet's are dying every day because no one can figure out what to do with us....

a reply to: DavDave

JFC, the Irony...

If this keeps up, more Vets will have died from a waiting list rather than an actual conflict.

How shameful.

a reply to: DavDave

Just getting the card was a circus. The amount of time, visits to the VA, and correspondence made it almost undoable for me. I still don't have it although it is because I have to make my third trip to the local VA hospital 80 miles away.

This country pays lip service to taking care of Veterans. Yeah, I get the "thank you for your service" comment frequently but that attitude is definitely not there when I go to the VA. It was a cliche. Disinterested clerk, with an attitude that I was screwing up her day. Wouldn't even make eye contact. I am sure she was thinking that this would be a great job if it weren't for all of these veterans.

Obama can't or won't do anything about it. The next President won't either. It is too big of a problem and it will take much more money than they are throwing at it now. We don't even know the problems Vets are having, let alone know the solution. I am convinced every Vet who was anywhere near combat has issues. Low grade fear for a long period of time takes its toll.

a reply to: BestinShow
This is only one of the shameful ways our government treats us Vets.
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) estimates that 49,933 veterans are homeless on any given night. Then on average some 22 veterans a day commit suicide.

There's a lot of us too.
After 14 years of war, nearly 7,000 service members have given their lives, and 2.8 million veterans who have returned and are continuing to return home from multiple deployments! Have you noticed that the Presidential Candidates Aren’t talking about Vet issues... Iran yes, Sending illegal aliens home yes, lots of talk about missing emails. But not one word about Vets.

a reply to: icewater

I just paid $80 bucks for an allergy shot from my local clinic... because for me to do it threw the VA I would have a six hour drive, one way, down to Albuquerque. So would spend just has much on gas and food, more if I stay overnight and have to get a motel room.

a reply to: DavDave

Sorry to hear about this and your problems as well.

Thank you for your service.

This is what Single Payer will look like...

It really burns me up to read these posts. The American Congress is not going to address these issues until the public forces them to. We really need to start raising holy hell about it.

DavDave, you should have been able to send the bill for that shot to the VA and they should have to pay it.

a reply to: DavDave

That's disgusting. There should be emergency legislation that allows vets to get care anywhere they can get to until they fix this problem. A nation that spends so much on creating vets ought to be able to have zero problem taking care of them.

a reply to: DavDave

the Presidential Candidates Aren’t talking about Vet issues

I don't want to derail your thread but, Bernie Sanders is talking about vet issues.

a reply to: DavDave

This makes me so angry!! Congress has the power to fix this with funding and a mandate for massive systems upgrades but they won't do it because ??????

It's not hard but it would take time and money. My God, politicians blather about American Exceptionalism while keeping our information and physical infrastructure in disrepair. It's embarrassing. They want Government to fail so badly they sacrifice lives to prove the system they are breaking doesn't work. So they can justify privatizing it??

Make a jobs program for Vets to use their technical and administrative expertise to tackle it en masse. These people have skills and come back needing work and healthcare. Let's give it to them.

AB

originally posted by: Kali74
a reply to: DavDave

the Presidential Candidates Aren’t talking about Vet issues

I don't want to derail your thread but, Bernie Sanders is talking about vet issues.

That's because he's on the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs... so he known about our problems but he hasn't done much to solve them either.

From a personal standpoint, my dad has always gotten prompt service from our local va hospital.
He has nothing bad to say about the fort wayne facility. He has leukemia and a few other problems.

But I have always though the government should shut down the VA hospitals and give the vets a card giving them free healthcare at any hospital.

a reply to: DavDave

i have VA benefits, but i choose private insurance to maintain my well being. I almost died in a VA hospital in early 2011, from heart arrhythmia attributed to my injury..

don't have much to say, love my brothers and sisters, but here we are

a reply to: DavDave

But the mission was accomplished, right?

'But we need help! my colleagues and I are in need of-'

'What part of "mission accomplished" did you not understand?'

'Please, my friend is in desperate need of-'

'You know what? we'll help. See that dumpster over there? feel free to die in it.'

It's going to get worse before it gets better as returning servicemen from Iraq and Afghanistan are given the same treatment. One minute you are a hero in times of war, then you are a burden when the war stops.

And poor old George Dubya is too distressed to shed a single crocodile tear while sitting at Crawford Ranch. So sad.

Terrible report. Would be more accurate if they told us how US vets are dying?

300k is way too much.

Are they dying by losing an arm or part of their head?
Are they dying by cancer or gased after the war?
Are they dying as guinea pigs after an experiment like after WW2?

How are so many Vets dying? Give us a god dam list. The article did say Iraq.

Quote: "As many Americans paused last week to reflect on the events that took place 14 years ago on Sept. 11, 2001."

So now I have to assume these guys are Iraqi war vets.



I swear, if this was the medieval age you won't see people coming back dying like crazy because there is no radiation/chemical warfare going on. Even the ones losing their limbs. Now we have technology to even keep soldiers alive for awhile after losing half their head. A big list on the causes would help the research a lot.

Oh believe me, it's not just the VA, I was actually denied my whole G.I. Bill, even though I paid into it and was honorably discharged... Doesn't matter who you are, what branch you served in, the message from our government / military to our vets is the same " Hurry up and wait so we can bone our own " .

You'd also think we being veterans would have a somewhat easier time finding work once we were back in the civilian world with all the incentives and such for employers. But I was unemployed for almost a year and a half after being discharged. Had to teach myself completely new skills just to even get to where I am today, it's really disgusting to see how everyone is treated in this country really. Don't even need to be a veteran to see and feel the lack of love.

I'd love to see something really pro-active. What seems to get TV coverage, and actual congressional attention at times, are protests and marches in D.C.

I would love to see thousands of veterans of all ages descend on Washington like angry bees! You all hopefully know you have (at least) the support of the public, and most of us are willing to put our money where our mouth is when it comes to taking care of our veterans.

If such a protest could ever be organized, I would do everything in my power to join in.

a reply to: DavDave

He can't do them by himself.

Bill he proposed in 2014 (pdf download), blocked by Republicans.

originally posted by: Kali74
a reply to: DavDave

He can't do them by himself.

Bill he proposed in 2014 (pdf download), blocked by Republicans.

Well that's a freaking shocker! Let's keep on voting for the tea party and putting them in Congress. See how far we can really regress and degenerate.
/s