Congress Betrayed Veterans Blamed Everyone Else

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
June 9, 2014

How many other ways can I put this? Congress IS TO BLAME FOR VETERANS SUFFERING and it has been going on for decades. Ask any Vietnam veteran what they went through trying to get claims approved for Agent Orange and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Ask any Gulf War veteran what it was like waiting for claims to be approved and for someone to finally figure out what Gulf War Syndrome was caused by. Ask Afghanistan and Iraq veterans what it was like to wait for claims and treatment for what Burn Pits did to them. Better yet, sit down and have a conversation with Korean War and WWII veterans. None of this is new to them.

Let's just look back at the recent scandals.

Bonuses for VA heads: They've been there and done that already. It happened in 2007. Shocked CBS didn't remember reporting on it?

VA Officials' Bonuses Raise Eyebrows
CBS
By JOEL ROBERTSAP
May 3, 2007, 1:38 PM

Months after a politically embarrassing $1 billion shortfall that put veterans' health care in peril, Veterans Affairs officials involved in the foul-up got hefty bonuses ranging up to $33,000.

The list of bonuses to senior career officials at the Veterans Affairs Department in 2006, obtained by The Associated Press, documents a generous package of more than $3.8 million in payments by a financially strapped agency straining to help care for thousands of injured veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Among those receiving payments were a deputy assistant secretary and several regional directors who crafted the VA's flawed budget for 2005 based on misleading accounting. They received performance payments up to $33,000 each, a figure equal to about 20 percent of their annual salaries.

Also receiving a top bonus was the deputy undersecretary for benefits, who helps manage a disability claims system that has a backlog of cases and delays averaging 177 days in getting benefits to injured veterans.

The bonuses were awarded even after government investigators had determined the VA repeatedly miscalculated — if not deliberately misled taxpayers — with questionable methods used to justify Bush administration cuts to health care amid a burgeoning Iraq war.

Congress is also guilty of collective amnesia when it comes to our veterans. They should know better or at least pretend they remember.

The articles on Wounded Times track these stories back for the last 7 years and in some cases, research on a post go back further. There is a reason for this work. I've been involved with this all my life from the time my Dad, a Korean War veteran, had to fight for his claim when I was a kid up to fighting for my husband, a Vietnam veteran, trying to get his claim approved. That one took 6 years and that was back in the 90's.

You can find a lot more reports on what has been going on but to keep this as short as possible, the fact is we can only blame congress. Not just this one. But all of them.

Congress In 2000 Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony Principi wrote:

In FY 2000, with resources of $50.9 billion in obligations and nearly 203,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) recorded significant accomplishments that brought us closer to attaining our long-term strategic goals.

Followed by

In FY 2001, with resources of $53.5 billion in obligations and nearly 207,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) achieved significant accomplishments that brought us closer to attaining our long-term strategic goals.

107th 2001-2002

In FY 2002, with resources of $58.9 billion in obligations and nearly 209,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees, VA achieved significant accomplishments that brought us closer to attaining our long-term strategic goals.

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS The 2002 budget provides $23,378 million in discretionary funding for veterans health, benefits, and other services, including $23,998 million in gross discretionary budget authority and $620 million in anticipated discretionary medical collections. This funding level recognizes that an estimated $235 million of current medical care liabilities will shift to the Department of Defense due to new benefits available to military retirees over age 64. The account by account information provided in the following budget schedules is supplemented by a department-wide strategic plan, published in September 2000, a performance plan submitted annually with the Budget, and an annual performance report. The performance plan contains annual goals for each of the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) programs along with historic performance data, where available. The plan highlights approximately 35 key measures that VA's top executives consider critical to the success of the Department. The performance report includes actual program performance as measured against goals.

November 2003

In FY 2003, with resources of $65.1 billion in obligations and nearly 212,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees, VA achieved significant accomplishments that brought us closer to attaining our long-term strategic goals.

The number of veterans using VA’shealth care system has risen dramatically in recent years, increasing from 2.9 million in 1995 to 5 million in 2003. Unable to completely absorb this increase, VA began 2003 with more than 280,000 veterans on waiting lists to receive medical care.

In addition, a new regulation giving priority access for severely disabled veterans was implemented for those veterans with service-connected disabilities rated 50 percent or greater. This new priority includes hospitalization and outpatient care for both service-connected and nonservice-connected treatment. In 2004, VA will provide priority access to other veterans for their service-connected conditions.

108th 2003-2004

In fiscal year (FY) 2004, with resources of $70 billion in obligations and nearly 220,000 employees, VA accomplished a great deal on behalf of America’s veterans and their families.

Conducting the Benefits Delivery at Discharge (BDD) program at 139 sites to help servicemembers transition more smoothly to civilian life; carried out in close cooperation with DoD, the BDD program assists active duty military personnel in filing claims for benefits at or near their time of discharge in order to expedite the processing of their claims. • Ensuring all medical centers provided electronic access to health information (furnished by DoD) to separated service persons and veterans benefits offices, which helped ensure continuity of health care. • Processing claims for education benefits in a timely fashion and with great accuracy. • Guaranteeing over 375,000 home loans worth nearly $50 billion; about four of every five veterans who used the housing program would not have qualified for a conventional loan.

109th 2005-2006

In 2005, with resources of nearly $76 billion in obligations and more than 222,000 employees, VA accomplished a great deal on behalf of America’s veterans and their families.

The number of unique patients using VA’s health care system has risen dramatically in recent years, increasing from 3.8 million in 2000 to more than an estimated 5.4 million in 2005.

In 2006 with nearly $80 billion in obligations and almost 220,000 employees, VA accomplished a great deal on behalf of America’s veterans and their families.

To date, more than 184,500 Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom (OIF/OEF) veterans have sought VA health care since the beginning of the Global War on Terrorism. VA has OIF/OEF counselors at each of our 156 medical centers and 207 Vet Centers. At least 100 of these counselors are OIF/OEF veterans themselves.
• VA has designed mental health programs for returning veterans, including National Guard troops, to assess their needs, help them cope with war-related stress, and return to society. Eighty-seven such programs have been established throughout the country with added staffing in sites with large numbers of returning servicemembers.

Jim Nicholson came into office with $1 billion shortfall

JUNE 28, 2005

Veterans Affairs Department Budget Shortfall
The Subcommittee on Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs of the House Appropriations Committee holds a hearing on recent reports of shortfalls in the budget of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson testifies.

Within a few months the department’s medical services account went from ‘sufficient’ to a billion-dollar shortfall.

The number of unique patients using VA’s health care system has risen dramatically in recent years, increasing from 3.8 million in 2000 to 5.5 million in 2006.

In 2007 with nearly $86 billion in obligations and approximately 230,000 employees, VA recorded numerous accomplishments that helped improve the quality of life for America’s veterans and their families.

In 2007 VA processed nearly 805,000 claims for disability benefits and added almost 235,000 new beneficiaries to the compensation and pension rolls.

110th 2007-2008

In 2008, with approximately $97.0 billion in obligations and approximately 250,000 employees, VA achieved numerous accomplishments that helped improve the quality of life for America’s veterans and their families.

VA is working to maintain its status as the highest-rated health care provider in America. Workload has increased significantly over the past 8 years, rising from 3.8 million unique patients in 2000 to more than 5.5 million in 2008.

111th 2009-2010
Eric Shinseki

In 2009, with more than $100 billion in obligations and approximately 270,000 full-time equivalent employees, VA achieved numerous accomplishments that helped improve the quality of life for America’s Veterans and their families.

VA is providing compensation and pension benefits to nearly 4 million Veterans and beneficiaries. In 2009, VA received more than 1,000,000 claims for disability benefits and processed more than 975,000 of these claims.

VA provides medical care, benefits and burial services throughout the nation. Shown below is a depiction of VA’s geographical locations as of March 31, 2009. The map identifies 153 Medical Centers, 232 Vet Centers, 768 CBOCs, 134 VA Community Living Centers, 6 Independent Output Clinics, 50 Residential Rehabilitation Centers, 204 National and State Cemeteries, and 57 Regional Offices.

In 2010, with more than $118 billion in obligations and approximately 280,000 full-time equivalent employees

Joint VA/Department of Defense (DoD) Integrated Disability Evaluation System (IDES) Program: VA and DoD worked together to increase the number of sites for the IDES program from 21 to 27 in 2010. The six new sites are Fort Riley, Fort Benning, Fort Lewis, Fort Hood, Fort Bragg, and Portsmouth Naval Hospital. IDES simplifies the process for disabled Servicemembers transitioning to Veteran status, improves the consistency of disability ratings, and improves customer satisfaction. An IDES claim is completed in an average of 309 days—43 percent faster than in the legacy system. VA and DoD will continue to expand the IDES program.

Seamless Transition: VA received more than 54,233 pre-discharge claims in 2010 through the Benefits Delivery at Discharge (BDD) program and the Quick Start program. BDD allows disability benefits to be awarded very soon after discharge.

112th 2011-2012

In 2011, with more than $132 billion in obligations and approximately 291,000 full-time equivalent employees

Rural Veterans

Rural Health: Since its inception in 2007, the Veterans Health Administration’s Office of Rural Health (ORH) has significantly expanded health care access to Veterans residing in rural and highly rural areas by supporting over 500 projects/programs across the country and in every VISN. From October 1, 2009, to December 31, 2010, more than 416,000 rural Veterans were impacted by ORH projects.

Telehealth

Telehealth Programs: VA's telehealth programs are the largest and most sophisticated in the Nation. These programs’ dedicated mission is to make care accessible to Veterans. Every day in 2011, home telehealth services supported 60,000 Veterans—helping people with chronic medical and mental health conditions to live independently in their own homes and local communities. This number represents a 30 percent increase over 2010.

113th 2013-2014

In 2012, with more than $138 billion in obligations and approximately 294,087 full-time equivalent employees,

312,841 Employees $78.4 billion (2013)