Audit uncovers veteran health scandal
More than 57,000 US military veterans have been waiting for 90 days or more for medical appointments, the Veterans Affairs Department said in a wide-ranging audit.
An additional 64,000 who enrolled for VA health care over the past decade have never been seen by a doctor, it said.
The audit is the first nationwide look at America’s biggest medical network in the uproar that began with reports two months ago of patients dying while awaiting appointments and of cover-ups at a VA centre in Arizona.
Examining 731 VA hospitals and large outpatient clinics, the audit found long waiting times across the US for patients seeking their first appointments with both primary care doctors and specialists.
The controversy over veterans’ care could provide Republicans with an issue to criticise Democrats ahead of congressional elections in November. It is also a headache for President Barack Obama, who is seeking someone to replace Veterans Affairs secretary Eric Shinseki. Shinseki, a former general, took the blame for what he decried as a “lack of integrity” in the sprawling system providing health care to US military veterans.
The audit said a 14-day target for waiting times was “not attainable”. It called the 2011 decision by senior VA officials setting it, and then basing bonuses on meeting the target “an organisational leadership failure”.
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