HuffPo: Leaked Document: Nearly One-Third Of 847,000 Veterans In Backlog For VA Health Care Already Died

[DKW 86 7,419]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/13/veterans-health-care-backlog-died_n_7785920.html

More than 238,000 of the 847,000 veterans in the pending backlog for health care through the Department of Veterans Affairs have already died, according to an internal VA document provided to The Huffington Post.

Scott Davis, a program specialist at the VA's Health Eligibility Center in Atlanta and apast whistleblower on the VA's failings, provided HuffPost with an April 2015 report titled "Analysis of Death Services," which reviews the accuracy of the VA's veteran death records. The report was conducted by staffers in the VA Health Eligibility Center and the VA Office of Analytics.

Flip to page 13 and you'll see some stark numbers. As of April, there were 847,822 veterans listed as pending for enrollment in VA health care. Of those, 238,657 are now deceased, meaning they died after they applied for, but never got, health care.

[AURaptor 1,122]

As Bill Clinton's Surgeon General said...

" We all will probably die with something sooner or later "

[cptau 169]

The VA's original medical purpose was to care for veterans wounded or injured on active duty as needed for the rest of their lives. Whether they were able to accomplish that is debatable. Later the politicians directed the VA to provide care to lower income veterans who needed medical attention not related to a service connected injury or wound. This flood of veterans needing attention from an inefficient and sometimes corrupt government entity needs to be redirected to civilian healthcare facilities.

If we do go to a national single payer health insurance systems similar to Canada's, the first thing we need to do is get rid of most of VA healthcare. An exception might be made for care related to the most severely wounded veterans that the VA is better able to treat.

[Texan4Auburn 1,626]

I'd like to help. But I was informed by the VA they are only hiring veterans. So it's on ya'll man.

[Mikey 16,575]

When will the Great Divider tour a VA hospital and propose solutions to congress? If he can make it to a prison there should be some small amount of time available for veterans, right?

[DKW 86 7,419]

I'd like to help. But I was informed by the VA they are only hiring veterans. So it's on ya'll man.

That was just recent. The problems are with lifetime bureaucrats in DC and in the field.

[Strychnine 1,802]

The VA's original medical purpose was to care for veterans wounded or injured on active duty as needed for the rest of their lives. Whether they were able to accomplish that is debatable. Later the politicians directed the VA to provide care to lower income veterans who needed medical attention not related to a service connected injury or wound. This flood of veterans needing attention from an inefficient and sometimes corrupt government entity needs to be redirected to civilian healthcare facilities.

If we do go to a national single payer health insurance systems similar to Canada's, the first thing we need to do is get rid of most of VA healthcare. An exception might be made for care related to the most severely wounded veterans that the VA is better able to treat.

At least some of it has been, as my office has taken on a number of them. However, the infinite bureaucracy of the VA makes verification, records requests, and reimbursement quite the annoyance. Any call that anyone in this office has to make to the VA for anything whatsoever guarantees multiple transfers to the wrong people and/or department scattered throughout the country, and excessive hold times. The small peek I have had into the underbelly of the VA's organization tells me that it is something that would likely take years to devise and implement corrective measures to, and would require a serious political commitment that has never really existed at any point in time. VA issues have been useful as short-term political talking points, but it is clear that it is not an issue taken seriously by Republicans or Democrats, and it has been that way for quite some time.

[WarTim 3,456]

I'd like to help. But I was informed by the VA they are only hiring veterans. So it's on ya'll man.

That was just recent. The problems are with lifetime bureaucrats in DC and in the field.

correct. Not a simple problem. Requires complete overhaul...

[DKW 86 7,419]

The VA's original medical purpose was to care for veterans wounded or injured on active duty as needed for the rest of their lives. Whether they were able to accomplish that is debatable. Later the politicians directed the VA to provide care to lower income veterans who needed medical attention not related to a service connected injury or wound. This flood of veterans needing attention from an inefficient and sometimes corrupt government entity needs to be redirected to civilian healthcare facilities.

If we do go to a national single payer health insurance systems similar to Canada's, the first thing we need to do is get rid of most of VA healthcare. An exception might be made for care related to the most severely wounded veterans that the VA is better able to treat.

At least some of it has been, as my office has taken on a number of them. However, the infinite bureaucracy of the VA makes verification, records requests, and reimbursement quite the annoyance. Any call that anyone in this office has to make to the VA for anything whatsoever guarantees multiple transfers to the wrong people and/or department scattered throughout the country, and excessive hold times. The small peek I have had into the underbelly of the VA's organization tells me that it is something that would likely take years to devise and implement corrective measures to, and would require a serious political commitment that has never really existed at any point in time. VA issues have been useful as short-term political talking points, but it is clear that it is not an issue taken seriously by Republicans or Democrats, and it has been that way for quite some time.

Eliminate the VHA and shift the Healthcare Problems into the market. The VA can then hopefully concentrate on the other side, namely benefits.

This is a dstart, but Strychnine is correct. We are not taking this stuff serious at all.

Start with the 23 page Application for Benefits.