It’s time for an update on the VA scandal. Here’s what’s
been going on:
This morning, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki submitted his
resignation to President Obama shortly after addressing the National Coalition
for Homeless Veterans at their annual conference in Washington, DC. In his
address, Shinseki said, "I
apologize as the senior leader of Veterans Affairs. That breach of integrity is
irresponsible, it is indefensible and unacceptable to me. . . . I will not
defend it, because it is indefensible. I can take responsibility for it, and I
do. Leadership and integrity problems can and must be fixed now.”
The
White House announced the appointment of current VA Deputy Secretary Sloan
Gibson as Acting Secretary. Gibson is a
West Point graduate, a long-time banker, and a former Chief Executive of the
USO (United Services Organization). He was confirmed as Deputy Secretary by the
Senate in February 2014. While
acknowledging that Gibson will have a learning curve, Mr. Obama stated his
belief that Gibson was up to the challenges ahead.
Shinseki’s
resignation follows close behind an interim report from the VA Office of the
Inspector General (OIG) about their investigation into the appointment scandal
at the Phoenix health care center. In the report, the OIG states that it has put
together a team consisting of board-certified doctors, auditors, healthcare
inspectors and special agents to conduct investigations. In addition, “Rapid Response
Teams” are being sent on surprise inspections. The
goal of these teams is to prevent further cover-ups or destruction of evidence.
Investigations are occurring at more than 40 VA facilities.
The OIG’s report
also issued 4 recommendations for immediate implementation. First, immediate action should be taken to
provide health care for the 1700 veterans who are not currently on any existing
wait list. Second, all wait lists at the Phoenix VA facility should be reviewed
to ensure that the veterans at greatest risk be provided the necessary medical
care ASAP. Third, a nationwide review of all wait lists should be done to make
sure that all veterans are seen within the recommended amount of time. And
finally, the Health Eligibility Center should do a nationwide check, facility
by facility, of new enrollees to make sure that all veterans appear correctly
on the facility’s official electronic waiting list.
A week before this report was submitted, the House passed a
bill that would make it easier for the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to fire or
demote senior staff. Shinseki claimed that some of his senior staff gave him
misleading reports, and so this bill was introduced to Congress to allow him to
more easily clean house. Although the bill has bi-partisan support as well as
support from many veterans’ groups, the Democratic majority is currently
blocking the bill’s passage in the Senate.
And finally, on May 19, 2014, two days before the bill was
passed by the House, Obama publicly said that he had not been aware of the
waiting list scandal at VA facilities around the country until he learned about
it on television. Memos have surfaced, however, that clearly note that the VA
itself informed Obama shortly after the 2008 election that its facilities might
be concealing the actual wait times veterans were enduring to receive
care.
Wait a minute… Did we just say that the VA itself informed Obama
about the concealed waiting lists?! It seems that both the VA heads and the
president knew about this issue long before now: more than 5 years ago. It’s a
shame to know that a problem that has cost so many lives could have been
addressed years ago.
We’ll
continue to keep you updated as this story progresses.
Its really sad that Shinseki resigned because of a problem that has been going on long before he took over. BUT he did the honorable thing, even though not his fault, he did the best he could with the system in place. Hopefully this brings about changes!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment, Mitch. I agree. These problems have been clearly going on long before the current administration took their positions. I'm honestly not exactly sure what Shinseki should have done to try to fix these issues. For there to be enough facilities and personnel to handle the ever-increasing load of veterans that need health care, large changes need to be made at the Congressional level, not just at the VA. A change on this grand of a scale would probably not be possible without the social pressure that is now pushing the VA and Congress to finally address these issues. While messy, it may indeed prove to be a real blessing.
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