Thread: [Watch] VA Scandal Spreading – Secret Waiting Lists Also Used At Florida Hospital

[Watch] VA Scandal Spreading – Secret Waiting Lists Also Used At Florida Hospital

Posted on 20 May, 2014 by Rick Wells


It would be hard to believe that secret waiting lists just happened to be the random fraudulent solutions thought up by the administrators of two different VA hospitals on opposite ends of the country.

A second VA hospital has been discovered to have been keeping two sets of books, as it relates to waitlists. One list was kept on the computer, the official version, as well as another, hand written, “off the record” version, which was much more complete.
Information is now coming forward that the Obama transition team was told that these problems existed back in 2008 and 2009, with nothing done to correct them in the interim five years.



The CNN reporters navigate the tricky thin line between being reporters and administration water carriers by recognizing that while problems were known to exist, the specific problems which resulted in deaths, may not have been known.
They don’t say whether the double set of books on the waitlists was one of those specific problems.
For background, with these new reports shining a more intense light, here’s Jay Carney walking a line of his own below, between speaking the truth and protecting the regime. “What did Obama know and when did he know it” was once again a topic of discussion.



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http://gopthedailydose.com/2014/05/2...rida-hospital/

Establishment Pundits Close Ranks on My Comparison of Obamacare and the VA

May 21, 2014


Windows Media

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Even when I, ladies and gentlemen, am not here, I still remain the most talked about radio talk show host in the country. Yesterday on Fox, America's Newsroom, the fill-in host, Eric Shawn, spoke with Ed Rollins, the Republican strategist -- and the Democrat strategist Mary Anne Marsh -- about comparisons that I made between the problems at the VA and Obamacare. Do you remember what I said? It was very simple.
In fact, it was harmless, and it happened to be true.
In discussing on Monday the problems at the VA I said, "Folks, here we have a little microcosm of where we're all headed with Obamacare. The VA is single payer. This is where we're all headed: Long lines, some people not being treated, and regime officials monkeying around with waiting lists. This is what is gonna happen to everybody with Obamacare if it's fully implemented."
That's what they played for the reaction of the Republican and Democrat strategists. Here first, Eric Shawn.
SHAWN: Problems with the VA health care system could be a sign of what's to come with Obamacare. Here's what Rush Limbaugh had to say...
RUSH ARCHIVE: No matter how big anybody's heart is, no matter what how much they care, here is a microcosm of what Obamacare is gonna be if it's fully implemented.
SHAWN: Is that the case? What does the VA scandal tell us about the new world of government health care in our nation?
RUSH: So, after that, they went to Ed Rollins and Mary Anne Marsh, and the question for Rollins: "The VA health care system is government health care. While some vets are satisfied all these other cases are just so horrendous and unforgivable. Will this be what it could be like under Obamacare," Ed Rollins?
ROLLINS: I think you have to separate the two. First of all, we have to take care of -- of -- of the VA, whatever it takes, bipartisanly. We need to fix this thing. Relative to it being connected to Obamacare, you know, the problem with Obamacare is it didn't do anything to reduce the costs. It basically added more coverage for people, but wasn't any guarantee that there was gonna be more medical services available.
RUSH: Just can't go there. Just can't. Just can't, 'cause, see, if you agree with me that would be divisive in Washington. So you have to make the point, "Well, it's two different things. First of all, we have to take care of the VA, whatever it takes, be bipartisan. We have to fix this thing." It's the establishment mantra. Could be Chris Christie, could be you name it. It has to be bipartisan. (McCain impression) "That's right, Limbaugh! We're gonna cross the aisle! We gonna roll up our sleeves and we're gonna work with the other side, and that's what I'm the best at," and that's the solution. Can't possibly agree with me.
No, no, no, 'cause that would be (whew!) too scary to contemplate.
Then they went to Mary Anne Marsh, the Democrat strategist, and this was her reaction.
MARSH: The VA had issues long before Obama was president and long before Bush was president. The tipping point came when we went into two wars we shouldn't have been in, we didn't pay for, and never planned for these veterans. That is the huge problem here. So I agree with that, a bipartisan agreement by Republicans and Democrats to devote the resources necessary to the VA to make sure every soldier gets every service they need because they have served our country.
RUSH: Right. So you agree with Rollins. The establishment is finding comfort with one another. Bipartisan, absolutely -- and then she adds (summarized), "By the way, we wouldn't even have these veterans and their medical problems if it hadn't been for Bush and those two wars that we didn't pay for and that we never planned for. That's the huge problem here. We had two wars we should have never been in. We had all these injuries and all this sickness that wouldn't have happened if it hadn't for Bush.
"But I agree with Ed. We need a bipartisan agreement and the resources necessary to fix the VA, to make sure every soldier gets every service they need because they've served our country. But, damn it, they didn't have to!" So you see how this plays out inside the Beltway. Do you realize how idiotic this is? This is the huge problem. "W need a bipartisan agreement, Republican and Democrats, to devote the resources necessary to the VA."
Well, that's been going on the last five years?
We didn't have these problems before. We were at war when George W. Bush was president, obviously, and we didn't have these problems. The Iraq War ended a long time ago. What do you mean these injuries and the cases are specific to these two wars? But because the mantra is bipartisan, work together, we cannot let it stand that what we're seeing here at the VA is a microcosm of where we're all headed with Obamacare, even though it is. It's a natural progression.
END TRANSCRIPT
Related Links

• NBC: Obama on VA Misconduct: 'I Will Not Tolerate It'
• Washington Post: This Memo Shows That The VA Knew Of Records Manipulation In 2010
• RushLimbaugh.com: Listen to This Show, Barry, and You'll Find Out About Stuff - 05.21.14
• RushLimbaugh.com: Obama Just Found Out About the VA Scandal, and He's Really, Really Mad - 05.21.14
• RushLimbaugh.com: Montage: Obama Just Found Out About (Insert Scandal Here) and He's Really Mad - 05.21.14
• RushLimbaugh.com: The Regime Survives on Good Intentions - 05.21.14

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/20...are_and_the_va

Friday, 23 May 2014 18:30 The VA Scandal in Brief: Yes, It's Bad

Written by Thomas R. Eddlem




The emerging cover-up of long waiting periods for care at Veterans Administration hospitals has burgeoned into national news in recent weeks, with “secret waiting lists” being exposed in half a dozen or more locations and President Obama calling for an inspector-general inquiry into the matter.

The scheme to cover up long waits at VA hospitals worked like this: The local VA administrators in numerous VA hospitals would not officially book an appointment — however direly needed — until an opening in a doctor's schedule came up, essentially keeping a waiting list to get onto the official waiting list. In other instances, the politicians in charge of the facilities would constantly cancel and reschedule appointments in order to make it appear that the overwhelming majority of appointments were made within the VA's stated goal of a 14-day window. This allowed administrators to boast they had moved toward compliance with the 14-day mandate coming out of Washington. “Yes, this is gaming the system a bit,” a supervisor's e-mail sent to Cheyenne, Wyoming, workers acknowledged. "When we exceed the 14 day measure, the front office gets very upset, which doesn't help us." The e-mail had been sent by a VA worker-turned-whistleblower to CBS News May 9.

Despite claims by administrators that waiting times were shorter under the Obama administration, actual waiting times by veterans were often months or longer. American Legion National Commander Daniel Dellinger testified May 15 before Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, “While a veteran might wait more than two weeks for most primary care appointments, specialty care appointments can take many months or even years.”

The scandal — while simmering for months or even years — made national news with an investigation into the Phoenix, Arizona hospital. But in recent weeks various news outlets have reported similar incidents in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Ft. Collins, Colorado; Cheyenne, Wyoming; Austin, Texas; and Atlanta, Georgia. More instances of “secret waiting lists” are expected to be revealed in the coming months. The Atlanta ABC-television affiliate WSB-TV claimed “hundreds” of deaths since 2001 in an investigation.

Perhaps the biggest break in the story was an April 30 report by CNN, which noted, “The secret list was part of an elaborate scheme designed by Veterans Affairs managers in Phoenix who were trying to hide that 1,400 to 1,600 sick veterans were forced to wait months to see a doctor, according to a recently retired top VA doctor and several high-level sources.... Internal e-mails obtained by CNN show that top management at the VA hospital in Arizona knew about the practice and even defended it.”

Drew Griffin of CNN interviewed the director of the Phoenix facility, Sharon Helman and the chief of staff, Dr. Darren Deering on May 1, and when Griffin asked Deering, "Have you found instances where veterans are on the waiting list and have died?" Deering replied, "Yes."
CNN noted that “as many as” 40 deaths are attributable to the Phoenix hospital alone and that as late as May 23 of this year, veterans are still waiting as long as 55 days for an appointment.

The day after CNN's April 30 broadcast, Phoenix VA Director Sharon Helman, Associate Director Lance Robinson, and a third person were put on administrative leave by President Obama. Dr. Robert Petzel, under secretary for health in the Department of Veterans Affairs, resigned May 16. Some have called for the firing of Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki over the issue, even an increasing number of Democrats in Congress.

The care of veterans — and even active duty military personnel — has long been plagued with scandal, from a scathing 2001 General Accounting Office report on care of veterans to the 2007 Washington Post exposé on unsanitary conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Even corruption with local hospitals making fraudulent claims is nothing new. A 2010 internal VA memo published by the American Legion revealed that the deputy under secretary for health operations and management told VA employees: “It has come to my attention that in order to improve scores on assorted access measures, certain facilities have adopted use of inappropriate scheduling practices sometimes referred to as ‘gaming strategies.’”

Supporters of the current system tout polls (such as a Rand Corporation 2004 study) that demonstrate veterans have usually rated VA care higher than that given to the general public. But it should hardly be surprising that people would rate something they get for free higher than something for which they'd otherwise have to pay thousands of dollars.

President Obama has long made a cause out of health care for veterans, saying in a March 19, 2009 speech still featured on the White House website: “We also owe our veterans the care they were promised and the benefits that they have earned. We have a sacred trust with those who wear the uniform of the United States of America. It's a commitment that begins at enlistment, and it must never end. But we know that for too long, we've fallen short of meeting that commitment. Too many wounded warriors go without the care that they need. Too many veterans don't receive the support that they've earned."

Conservative columnist Ben Shapiro has noted that Obama and his supporters have often touted the VA as a model to follow in setting up ObamaCare. But if waits of months or years is the standard for health care, is it really better actual care than a private system when under ObamaCare many Americans will see their health care premiums double?

President Obama has attempted to put a good face on the scandal, claiming in a May 21 press conference, “We have made progress over the last five years. We’ve made historic investments in our veterans. We’ve boosted VA funding to record levels. And we created consistency through advanced appropriations so that veterans organizations knew their money would be there regardless of political wrangling in Washington.”
Likewise, White House Press Secretary Tim Carney noted May 21 that problems with VA care predated Obama: “I think the president made clear that the issue of problems in the VA with access to health benefits has been with us as a country for a long time and has been exacerbated by the fact that we are at the backend of a more than decade-long period of war, where we’ve seen a significant increase in our veterans — in the number of veterans and in the number of veterans who need disability benefits and health services. And that has been a challenge for the VA for a long, long time — certainly for the past decade or more. So that’s, as he said today, the President said today, that’s not a new issue.”
Clearly, veterans need to receive their contracted health care benefits. But if one can expect long waits regardless of the party in charge in Washington, is expanding VA care to encompass the entire nation really a good idea?

^{Photo of the Phoenix VA Health Care Center: AP Images}

http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews...fdef-287785873

Susan Rice Dishonors Dead US Soldiers on Sunday Shows... Again

Walid Shoebat 11 mins ago

Susan Rice clearly didn’t learn the ‘fool me once, shame on me. fool me twice, shame on you’ lesson. After the Benghazi tragedy, Rice was instructed to lie about a video being responsible for the attacks. She did so on five Sunday talk shows. In so doing, she dishonored all who died.
After the announcement of the prisoner swap to free Bowe Bergdahl, Rice again appeared on the Sunday shows to… lie. This should be obvious after reading our comprehensive report.

During this interview, Rice said that Bergdahl ‘served with honor and distinction’. Not only has Bergdahl been exposed as a deserter but multiple independent reports indicate that several soldiers were killed in action while searching for him. Bolstering these claims even more are reports that soldiers who knew the truth were made to sign nondisclosure agreements:

Many of Bergdahl’s fellow troops — from the seven or so who knew him best in his squad to the larger group that made up the 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division — told CNN that they signed nondisclosure agreements agreeing to never share any information about Bergdahl’s disappearance and the efforts to recapture him. Some were willing to dismiss that document in hopes that the truth would come out about a soldier who they now fear is being hailed as a hero, while the men who lost their lives looking for him are ignored.
“I don’t think I could have continued to go on without being able to share with you and the people the true things that happened in this situation,” Korder said Monday. “Because if you guys aren’t made aware of it, it will just go on, and he’ll be a hero, and nobody will be able to know the truth.”

By lying about Benghazi, Rice dishonored those who were murdered. By lying about Bergdahl, she not only elevated him unjustly but dishonored those who were murdered looking for him.




Read more at http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/06/su...wCUc97ldF7X.99





Another political spokesperson from Hell...

Senate Democrats Just Blocked a Bill to Increase Accountability at Scandal-Plagued Veterans Affairs Department

Why do they hate veterans?

AP


This actually happened on the Senate floor this afternoon. Senator Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) asked for consent to take up and pass the Veterans Affairs Management Accountability Act, a bill that would make it easier/possible for the scandal-plagued department to fire employees based on poor performance. The House overwhelmingly passed the legislation on Wednesday, with a bipartisan vote of 390 to 33. (Only Democrats objected.)
Surely the Senate would follow suit, right? Not exactly. Senator Bernie Sanders, a union-backed socialist from Vermont, objected on behalf of Senate Democrats to Rubio’s request. Instead of taking any action now, Sanders said he is going to hold a hearing—several weeks from now.




Sanders, who chairs the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, has been one of the most outspoken defenders of the VA against allegations of misconduct. When asked about reports of multiple deaths related to long wait times at the VA healthcare system, Sanders told CNN: “People die every day.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) on Thursday offered a lukewarm assessment of the House-passed legislation, describing it as “not unreasonable.”
House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) was not happy. “As we head into the Memorial Day weekend, I am disappointed, and—frankly—shocked that Senate Democratic leaders chose to block legislation that would hold VA managers accountable,” Boehner said in a statement. “As we head home to honor the men and women who have sacrificed so much for our freedom, it’s fair to ask why Senate Democrats won’t stand up for more accountability?”




http://freebeacon.com/blog/senate-de...rs-department/

The VA Scandal is Just the Tip of the Military Abuse Iceberg

Ron Paul 2 hours ago

video at link below

President Obama held a press conference last week to express his outrage over reports that the Veterans Administration was routinely delaying treatment to veterans, with some veterans even dying while on alleged secret waiting lists. The president said that, "if these allegations prove to be true, it is dishonorable, it is disgraceful, and I will not tolerate it, period." He vowed that, together with Congress, he would "make sure we're doing right by our veterans across the board."

The president is right to be upset over the mistreatment of US military veterans, especially those who return home with so many physical and mental injuries. Veterans should not be abused when they seek the treatment promised them when they enlisted. But his outrage over military abuse is selective. He ignores the most egregious abuse of the US armed forces: sending them off to fight, become maimed, and die in endless conflicts overseas that have no connection to US national security.

It is ironic that the same week the president condemned the alleged mistreatment of veterans by the VA, he announced that he was sending 80 armed troops to Chad to help look for a group of girls kidnapped by the Nigerian Islamist organization Boko Haram. Is there any mistreatment worse than sending the US military into a violent and unstable part of the world to conduct a search operation that is in no way connected to the defense of the United States?

As Judge Andrew Napolitano said last week, "Feeling sorry for somebody is not a sufficient basis for sending American men and women into harm's way."
Read more at http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/05/va...v0oOhBJAXeP.99

We are naturally upset over reports that Nigerian girls have been kidnapped by this armed Islamist organization. Unfortunately, cruel and unjust acts are committed worldwide on a regular basis. What the media is not reporting about this terrible situation, however, is that it was US interventionism itself that strengthened Boko Haram, and inadvertently may have even helped the kidnappers commit their crime.

Back in early 2012, just months after the US-led attack on Libya overthrew Gaddafi and plunged the country into chaos, the UN issued a report warning about the proliferation of weapons from that bombed out country. UN investigators found -- eight months before the attack that killed the US ambassador in Benghazi -- that, "Some of the weapons ... could be sold to terrorist groups like al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Boko Haram or other criminal organizations."

The US, NATO, and the UN are guilty of creating the unrest currently engulfing much of northern Africa, as they all pushed lies to promote an attack on Libya that destabilized the region. Now the president is launching an intervention in Chad and Nigeria to solve the problems created by his own intervention in Libya. This pattern is the same in places like Ukraine, where the US-backed coup in February has led to chaos and unrest that leads to even more intervention, including NATO's saber-rattling on the Russian border. Has anyone in the Administration or Congress ever considered that interventionism itself might be the real problem?

As Americans celebrate the Memorial Day holiday, we should remember that though the VA's alleged abuse and neglect of US veterans is scandalous, the worse abuse comes from a president and a compliant Congress that send the US military to cause harm and be harmed overseas in undeclared, unnecessary, and illegal interventions. The best way to honor the US military is to honor the Constitution, and to keep in mind the wise advice of our Founding Fathers to avoid all foreign interventionism.

President Obama held a press conference last week to express his outrage over reports that the Veterans Administration was routinely delaying treatment to veterans, with some veterans even dying while on alleged secret waiting lists. The president said that, "if these allegations prove to be true, it is dishonorable, it is disgraceful, and I will not tolerate it, period." He vowed that, together with Congress, he would "make sure we're doing right by our veterans across the board."

The president is right to be upset over the mistreatment of US military veterans, especially those who return home with so many physical and mental injuries. Veterans should not be abused when they seek the treatment promised them when they enlisted. But his outrage over military abuse is selective. He ignores the most egregious abuse of the US armed forces: sending them off to fight, become maimed, and die in endless conflicts overseas that have no connection to US national security.

It is ironic that the same week the president condemned the alleged mistreatment of veterans by the VA, he announced that he was sending 80 armed troops to Chad to help look for a group of girls kidnapped by the Nigerian Islamist organization Boko Haram. Is there any mistreatment worse than sending the US military into a violent and unstable part of the world to conduct a search operation that is in no way connected to the defense of the United States?

As Judge Andrew Napolitano said last week, "Feeling sorry for somebody is not a sufficient basis for sending American men and women into harm's way."

Read more at http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/05/va...v0oOhBJAXeP.99

Marine watchdog: VA deaths actually 'in thousands'

'It was all deliberate, and it was all in the name of an almighty dollar'




Evidence of dozens of U.S. veterans dying as they waited months for appointments and treatment are just the tip of the iceberg – and the real number of deaths could be in the thousands – according to a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who closely follows the issue.

Jessie Jane Duff spent 20 years in the Marines, rising to the rank of gunnery sergeant. She is now on the organizing committee at Concerned Veterans for America. While the government is essentially admitting to about 40 deaths in Phoenix due to long waits and dozens more facilities are under investigation, Duff said the real number of veteran deaths due to the VA bureaucracy in recent years is exponentially higher.
“Yes, I do estimate it’s in the thousands,” she said. “Let’s go to the backlog that they had. Fifty-three veterans died a day just waiting on their benefits in 2011. The VA itself has those numbers. We’re talking about egregious mismanagement, a culture of corruption that was allowing all these executives to give the impression that they had 14 days of waiting time, not months and months of waiting time, so they could get bonuses. So I expect it will be several hundred, if not thousands.”
Listen to the WND/Radio America interview with Jessie Jane Duff:

video at link below

Duff said another reason the numbers are likely to soar is because of systemic bureaucracy that grinds the system to a crawl.
“In Albuquerque, New Mexico, veterans were waiting over four months with gangrene, heart disease, brain tumors. I didn’t even know you could wait that long with any of those predicaments. In Harlingen, Texas, in 2010, they decided that men had to come back with three screenings that came out positive before they could get in for a colonoscopy. By that time, it was a Stage Four cancer,” said Duff, who elaborated further on some of the red tape veterans are forced to navigate in Albuquerque.
“It came out that they had eight cardiologists on staff. But only three would work a day, and they would see only two patients per day. I’m not sure if that was two patients per cardiologist or two total. Regardless, the report I read determined that they were seeing in a week what most medical facilities could see in two days,” she said.
Duff said a final death count may prove difficult since many vets ultimately gave up on the VA system and sought care in the private sector. Duff said the most troubling aspect of this story is not just incompetent mismanagement but the blatant deceit perpetrated by VA officials around the nation.
“What disappoints me the most out of this is that it was deliberate. I used to think it was just mismanagement. I’ve been reporting on mismanagement for the past year. Now I realize it was all deliberate and it was all in the name of an almighty dollar,” she said. “I’m so shocked and saddened to know that executives at the highest level were training their employees to hide numbers, training their employees to make it look like veterans were only waiting 14 days.”
Duff added, “They were not realizing the reality nor did they care about the reality that this was going to result in many of these veterans’ deaths. And we’re talking often about our Vietnam era and older. Many of those men are not in a position where they can heal quickly and go without medical care for sustained periods of time.
“It’s tragic that these executives became so removed, so removed from the very veterans they were helping that they never looked in the eyes of these family members or went to one of the funerals or watched the pain and suffering that these men went through.”
Federal spending on veterans’ health care is up significantly in the Obama administration, and the president vowed last week to fight for as much additional money as needed to fix the system. That approach to the problem leaves Duff incensed.
“Oh please. I just want to scream when I hear somebody say, ‘Let’s slap more money onto it,’” Duff said. “They have a $150 billion budget. They requested $160 billion for the next fiscal year. They’ve never been denied anything from the Senate or the House, as far as their budget goes. Thirty-nine percent is going to medical costs. Thirty-nine (percent) of the $150 billion.”
Duff reports that 52 percent of taxpayers dollars spent at the Phoenix VA went to administrative costs, including the purchase of expensive office furniture. Another six million was spent on a sparsely attended national conference in Orlando, Florida.
“They’ve wasted thousands and thousands and millions of dollars,” she said. “The money is simply being mismanaged.”
She is also seething at Senate Democrats for blocking the VA Accountability Act, which easily passed the House and would give the secretary of Veterans’ Affairs. However, GOP attempts to approve the plan in the Senate were blocked by Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders, D-Vt.
“Sanders has another bill of his own, another $20 billion in a pork-funded bill that he’s trying to get through the Senate. He used two false arguments. His first false argument is we need time to review the bill. It’s a three-page bill, 27 lines, Bernie. How slow do you need to read?”
Duff explained, “The second false argument is that he said this would give a greater opportunity when we change administrations for executives to be fired and that would be unfair. That’s another false argument. The Department of Defense has this authority to fire executives. This was in place in several previous administrations. Secretary (Robert) Gates used it during the Walter Reed scandal in 2007. We have heard of no executives being fired when the administrations changed so that is a false and ridiculous argument.”
She said executives would still have the right to appeal their termination, so punitive firings would be very difficult. Duff said the case of Sharon Helman is the perfect example of why reform is needed.
Helman deliberately submitted false information on the number of veteran suicides. Instead of being fired, she was promoted to director of the Phoenix VA, site of the initial reports of falsified wait lists for veterans.
With all of the promises of reform flowing out of Washington, when will America know if real progress is being made?
“We have over a quarter-million veterans who are appealing their claims. I want to see where they start getting a very solid ratio of when they grant a claim, it’s not being appealed,” Duff said. “That tells me you’re giving a quality assessment to the person who is making the claim. We’re going to see our veteran suicides drop. Right now, 22 vets a day are killing themselves due to mental health issues. Often there is a huge delay of up to three weeks getting in for a mental health exam within the VA. We’ll see that drop.
“We will also see a greater quality in care. I expect that they’ll start serving these veterans and find out how long they’ve been getting care. And I expect the Senate and the House to be monitoring this a hell of a lot closer than they’ve been. Sadly, they’ve all gotten letters from veterans complaining about the VA, but it wasn’t until Phoenix that we heard them do anything about it.”


Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/06/marine-wa...A88VWV8u4JO.99

Concerned Veterans For America: VA Deaths Actually In The Thousands

Marine Watchdog: VA Deaths Actually ‘In Thousands’ – WorldNetDaily

Evidence of dozens of U.S. veterans dying as they waited months for appointments and treatment are just the tip of the iceberg – and the real number of deaths could be in the thousands – according to a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who closely follows the issue.
.

.
Jessie Jane Duff spent 20 years in the Marines, rising to the rank of gunnery sergeant. She is now on the organizing committee at Concerned Veterans for America. While the government is essentially admitting to about 40 deaths in Phoenix due to long waits and dozens more facilities are under investigation, Duff said the real number of veteran deaths due to the VA bureaucracy in recent years is exponentially higher.
“Yes, I do estimate it’s in the thousands,” she said. “Let’s go to the backlog that they had. Fifty-three veterans died a day just waiting on their benefits in 2011. The VA itself has those numbers. We’re talking about egregious mismanagement, a culture of corruption that was allowing all these executives to give the impression that they had 14 days of waiting time, not months and months of waiting time, so they could get bonuses. So I expect it will be several hundred, if not thousands.”
Duff said another reason the numbers are likely to soar is because of systemic bureaucracy that grinds the system to a crawl.
“In Albuquerque, New Mexico, veterans were waiting over four months with gangrene, heart disease, brain tumors. I didn’t even know you could wait that long with any of those predicaments. In Harlingen, Texas, in 2010, they decided that men had to come back with three screenings that came out positive before they could get in for a colonoscopy. By that time, it was a Stage Four cancer,” said Duff, who elaborated further on some of the red tape veterans are forced to navigate in Albuquerque.
“It came out that they had eight cardiologists on staff. But only three would work a day, and they would see only two patients per day. I’m not sure if that was two patients per cardiologist or two total. Regardless, the report I read determined that they were seeing in a week what most medical facilities could see in two days,” she said.
Duff said a final death count may prove difficult since many vets ultimately gave up on the VA system and sought care in the private sector. Duff said the most troubling aspect of this story is not just incompetent mismanagement but the blatant deceit perpetrated by VA officials around the nation.
“What disappoints me the most out of this is that it was deliberate. I used to think it was just mismanagement. I’ve been reporting on mismanagement for the past year. Now I realize it was all deliberate and it was all in the name of an almighty dollar,” she said. “I’m so shocked and saddened to know that executives at the highest level were training their employees to hide numbers, training their employees to make it look like veterans were only waiting 14 days.”
Duff added, “They were not realizing the reality nor did they care about the reality that this was going to result in many of these veterans’ deaths. And we’re talking often about our Vietnam era and older. Many of those men are not in a position where they can heal quickly and go without medical care for sustained periods of time.
“It’s tragic that these executives became so removed, so removed from the very veterans they were helping that they never looked in the eyes of these family members or went to one of the funerals or watched the pain and suffering that these men went through.”
Federal spending on veterans’ health care is up significantly in the Obama administration, and the president vowed last week to fight for as much additional money as needed to fix the system. That approach to the problem leaves Duff incensed.
“Oh please. I just want to scream when I hear somebody say, ‘Let’s slap more money onto it,’” Duff said. “They have a $150 billion budget. They requested $160 billion for the next fiscal year. They’ve never been denied anything from the Senate or the House, as far as their budget goes. Thirty-nine percent is going to medical costs. Thirty-nine (percent) of the $150 billion.”
Duff reports that 52 percent of taxpayers dollars spent at the Phoenix VA went to administrative costs, including the purchase of expensive office furniture. Another six million was spent on a sparsely attended national conference in Orlando, Florida.
“They’ve wasted thousands and thousands and millions of dollars,” she said. “The money is simply being mismanaged.”
She is also seething at Senate Democrats for blocking the VA Accountability Act, which easily passed the House and would give the secretary of Veterans’ Affairs. However, GOP attempts to approve the plan in the Senate were blocked by Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders, D-Vt.
“Sanders has another bill of his own, another $20 billion in a pork-funded bill that he’s trying to get through the Senate. He used two false arguments. His first false argument is we need time to review the bill. It’s a three-page bill, 27 lines, Bernie. How slow do you need to read?”
Duff explained, “The second false argument is that he said this would give a greater opportunity when we change administrations for executives to be fired and that would be unfair. That’s another false argument. The Department of Defense has this authority to fire executives. This was in place in several previous administrations. Secretary (Robert) Gates used it during the Walter Reed scandal in 2007. We have heard of no executives being fired when the administrations changed so that is a false and ridiculous argument.”
She said executives would still have the right to appeal their termination, so punitive firings would be very difficult. Duff said the case of Sharon Helman is the perfect example of why reform is needed.
Helman deliberately submitted false information on the number of veteran suicides. Instead of being fired, she was promoted to director of the Phoenix VA, site of the initial reports of falsified wait lists for veterans.
With all of the promises of reform flowing out of Washington, when will America know if real progress is being made?
“We have over a quarter-million veterans who are appealing their claims. I want to see where they start getting a very solid ratio of when they grant a claim, it’s not being appealed,” Duff said. “That tells me you’re giving a quality assessment to the person who is making the claim. We’re going to see our veteran suicides drop. Right now, 22 vets a day are killing themselves due to mental health issues. Often there is a huge delay of up to three weeks getting in for a mental health exam within the VA. We’ll see that drop.
“We will also see a greater quality in care. I expect that they’ll start serving these veterans and find out how long they’ve been getting care. And I expect the Senate and the House to be monitoring this a hell of a lot closer than they’ve been. Sadly, they’ve all gotten letters from veterans complaining about the VA, but it wasn’t until Phoenix that we heard them do anything about it.”

Click HERE For Rest Of Story

http://thedaleygator.wordpress.com/2...the-thousands/

VA hospitals out of control
Corruption rampant

http://miami.cbslocal.com/latest-vid...lipId=10184017

Serious crimes treated like administrative matters
This is not unlike how police departments all over the US handle their crime stats and reporting.

The NYPD is specifically notorious for telling people who've been victims of serious crimes to "forget about it."

Why?

The precinct commanders want to keep their crimes stats low to make themselves look like heroes for the mayor who wants good press at any cost.

The difference with the VA is the huge quantities of drugs and expensive equipment that walks out of the doors of these places.
As bad as the poor medical care issue
is, it's only the tip of the iceberg.

VA resources including drugs and
expensive equipment routinely walk
out the door and administrators cover
up to make themselves look good.

http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/26626.html

- Brasscheck TV

P.S. Please share Brasscheck TV with your
friends and colleagues.

Triple Amputee Veteran Brian Kolfage Blasts Obama in Powerful Memorial Day Letter: You were Raised to Hate America
Tim Brown May 26, 2014

Senior Airman and veteran Brian Kolfage, Jr. is the epitome of what a man who has taken his oath seriously is about. After becoming the most severely wounded Airman in US history, Kolfage fought back against the odds to regain his life, marry his bride and continue to be a voice among veterans against the tyranny we see taking place under the Obama administration. In a powerful Memorial Day letter, Kolfage took time to blast Obama writing, "Your disdain for America and her greatness has never been a secret. You were raised to hate the 'American Empire' and were taught that the American military is the enemy."

Here's Kolfage's letter in its entirety, via his Facebook page.

President Obama,
On this Memorial Day I can’t help but think of the many veterans who have given their lives to protect the freedoms that we all enjoy today, and quite frankly one that so many Americans take for granted. As you’re playing your 165th round of golf this weekend you can count on our warriors to protect you and to protect this great nation.

From the Civil War to the wars in the deserts of the Middle East, our brave men and women have given their lives for freedoms that can only be found in America. Generations of selfless Americans have stepped up to fight for a cause greater than themselves. Freedom is never free, and the price of our freedom has been paid with the blood of our finest Americans. Your daughters have been fortunate enough to reap the freedoms that so many have sacrificed their lives for. Without these heroes you would have never have had the opportunity to become the President of this great nation.

Sadly, the men and women who have volunteered to fight the in the most extreme conditions in the world are coming back only to find themselves engaged in a new war at home. They have now found themselves in a war with your incompetent administration, who’s scandal ridden legacy has finally hit an all-time low. I can’t help but feel the deepest disgust for the pain you and your administration have caused the families who have lost their heroes battling your war against our veterans back home. I can’t think of more shameless way to for this country to dishonor its veterans. And sadly, it’s the lack of your leadership and accountability that lead to these failures.

These men and women who bravely fought in WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and the Gulf Wars have been forced to rely on your useless bureaucratic employees for their health care. These federal employees disrespected these men and women and the sacrifices they have made in the worst imaginable way. They ignored their pleas for help and in many cases left them to die in favor of hefty government bonuses for exceptional performance. We all know you and your regime doesn't give a damn about these heroes. Your disdain for America and her greatness has never been a secret. You were raised to hate the “American Empire” and were taught that the American military is the enemy. It was easier for you to just ignore the Veteran Affairs crisis as you crisscrossed America fundraising for your fellow Democrats.

I remember candidate Obama promising to overhaul the VA and reduce the backlog. You claimed that America’s support for its veterans is obvious by the way we treat our vets. You really nailed that one didn't you? Just like you were going to fix Detroit or fix foreign policy. Your high school like approach to solving complex issues can’t be fixed by tweeting hashtags with propaganda to people who want to kill us. Anyone with an ounce of common sense can see you’re unfit to lead our nation, let alone act as our Commander In Chief. What our country needs now, more than ever is real leadership, someone who doesn't wait for a crisis, but is able to foresee an issue and deal with it before it happens. Unfortunately for America, you've been too busy campaigning and don’t have time to deal with the health care crisis of our veterans. The only thing you seem to care about is your own radical agenda, and now our vets are paying for your negligence with their lives.

As I sit here typing this out I’m dealing with my own VA nightmare which involves the Phoenix VA. I have given 3 limbs for this country, but apparently that is not enough. A “clerical error” made by a VA employee has resulted in nearly a year of abuse and mismanagement of my case. In other words, the VA is stealing over $7000 from my disability compensation that I earned when I lost 3 of my limbs for our country.

On this Memorial Day, as I battle your incompetent bureaucrats my family would like to thank you for once again failing our veterans. We can’t help but wonder about the disastrous socialized medicine program that we will surely be dealing with if ObamaCare is allowed to be fully implemented. If our incompetent VA cannot handle government healthcare for a fraction of our population, who would be foolish enough to believe a massive health care system designed to provide health care for all American’s would be any different? You can’t even find someone to build a competent website to work for your socialized medicine program when you had your name attached to it, so why would you care about our veterans when you could so easily push the blame off on someone else?

You have not only failed our veterans, you have failed America in every way imaginable. You have purposely divided us by race, political parties, and socioeconomic status in order to push a radical agenda on America that can only be passed when you have successfully divided all Americans. Your entire administration is incompetent and you have set America on a path for certain failure.

So, on this Memorial Day, as we honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation, I’d like to thank you, our Commander In Chief for not even caring enough to provide us with quality health care.
Brian Kolfage, Sra, USAF Ret.

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