(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Rep. Larry Bucshon, M.D. released the following statement regarding the Inspector General (IG) report confirming allegations of wait list schemes and data manipulation at the Phoenix VA.
“The new IG report confirms that VA officials have knowingly been negligent in administering care to veterans. The problems are obviously not isolated and instead systemic within the organization. In light of this new information it is absolutely clear that VA Secretary Eric Shinseki should resign his post immediately. New, decisive leadership at the VA is the first step to ensure our veterans receive the care they were promised.â€
BACKGROUND:
Following medical school, Dr. Bucshon spent two and a half years at the VA in Milwaukee, WI during his residency.
In a recent interview with The Washington Times, Dr. Bucshon argued that our nation’s veterans shouldn’t be limited to the VA for the care they need. Instead, Bucshon asserted that veterans should have the choice of visiting a private hospital and be covered by their VA benefits.
Last week, the House passed H.R. 4031, the Department of Veterans Affairs Management Accountability Act of 2014, a bill to hold senior employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) accountable for negligent behavior like “secret†waiting lists and intentional backlog.
In March, Dr. Bucshon joined his colleague Rep. David Scott (D-GA) to introduce H.R. 4234, the Ensuring Veterans Resiliency Act, a bipartisan bill to improve access to psychiatric care for our nation’s veterans.
Someone IS responsible for this National Disgrace, and if Shinseki doesn’t have enough integrity to resign in the face of the mounting evidence during his watch, then he is no less than Scum of the Earth.
Stop with the scum of the earth nonsense.
Shinseki is an honorable man and former Vet who has had part of his foot amputated. It is universally agreed he is a sincere and fine man beloved by his fellow Vets.
That being said he may not be the correct man for the job. Firing Shinseki may not neccessarily help the VA, but he may lack the bureaucratic and administrative skills needed to manage and organize the massive VA.
All that being said Obama and Shinseki bear a good deal of responsibility, but republicans bear a good deal of reponsibility also for, ONCE AGAIN, not properly funding a government agency then howling failure, when well it does fail, DUH!.
The VA has been overwhelmed with visist and claims from the Afghan and Iraq wars.
The systemic problems at the VA have been going on for decades, but we should forget all that and focus on how we can reduce the current wait times to less than a week.
Someone are recommending giving waiting vets a voucher to go to any private hospital or clinic. I think that is a tremendous idea. However there are some problems. The private doctor/clinic is going to want to see the previous medical records at the VA or else start from the beginning again with new tests/diagnosis etc same for any specialist that the patient would see later. The what if the same patient later goes back to the VA for treatments only offered there. Aiiii yi yi.
The VA is a bureaucratic nightmare.
Shinseki may indeed have to go but getting a political scalp may not fix the problems, but it might be a start of long, long road ahead to fixing the VA.
I do think it is time for Shinseki to resign, because I don’t think it is possible for him to effectively move forward with solving the problems. I have no direct dealings with VA, but most of the people I know who do are happy with their services. I’ve always thought that the need for vets who require hospitalization to go to Marion, IL was a real hardship for many families, though. Maybe the time has come to make local hospitalizations available to them.
These are people who gave this country their best, and we need to give them the best of care as quickly as possible. I think that likely can be best accomplished by a public-private effort that allows vets to seek treatment in VA clinics first, and if they can’t be seen there within a reasonable amount of time for non-emergencies, then they should go to private practiitioners at no out-of-pocket cost. Emergencies should be dealt with at the nearest medical facility, no questions asked.
Gen. Shinseki has resigned. Now we will see how the confirmation of a replacement goes. I hope it will be someone like Gen. Powell, but I can’t imagine who would be willing to take this mess on.
Little hypocrite Larry is too busy voting against a small government principle, states’ rights. His handlers just had him vote against legislation to curb federal meddling in states with medical MJ.
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