Thomas McInerney CLINTON CAN’T DENY VET CRISIS
Blaming VA scrutiny on politics shows disregard for painful reality
The next commander in chief faces many challenges, not the least of which is a Department of Veterans Affairs that routinely neglects America’s heroes and even leaves some to die.
Yet the leading presidential Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, refuses to acknowledge that a nationwide problem exists.
Clinton made her views known in an Oct. 23 interview with MSNBC. She declared that last year’s wait-list scandal in Phoenix was little more than an anomaly: “It’s not been as widespread as it has been made out to be.” She also claimed that “veterans who do get treated are satisfied with their treatment,” while arguing that Republicans manufactured a non-existent crisis to serve their political ends.
These are astounding comments from someone who wants to command America’s men and women in uniform. They betray a shocking ignorance of the facts on the ground. Time and again, the VA has let down the veterans who fought and bled for their country. Simply look at the reams of evidence released since the wait-list scandal was first uncovered in Phoenix in April 2014. SECRET WAITING LISTS The crisis at the Phoenix VA is well-known. An Arizona Republic investigation first uncovered the fact that veterans were dying while awaiting care.
To cover up this grisly fact, the facility’s managers designed an elaborate and secret waiting list that hid the fact that as many as 1,600 veterans had wait times that often stretched to a year or more.
This horrific practice was not unique to Phoenix.
A month after the scandal hit national headlines, the VA’s inspector general office found that “inappropriate scheduling practices are systemic” in the VA health care system, with similar secret waiting lists later discovered at facilities in other states. An internal VA audit released that June found further problems. Employees at 76% of VA facilities had been instructed to change dates for patient appointments. Additionally, more than 57,000 newly enrolled veterans faced wait times of at least 90 days, while nearly 64,000 veterans requested appointments that never arrived.
Subsequent reports have been even more damning.
Only two months ago, the VA’s inspector general found that a staggering 307,000 veterans might have passed away while waiting to enroll. And in some areas, the VA’s record has only gotten worse since last year. Department officials admitted this summer that the number of veterans waiting more than a month for health care was actually 50%
higher than at the height of the wait-list scandal.
These facts put Clinton’s first claim in context. If anything, the VA’s problems are more widespread than they’ve been made out to be. America’s veterans deal with them every day. LIVES ON THE LINE Nor should it be a surprise that Clinton’s second claim — that veterans are happy with the VA’s health care — is equally specious. Many of the veterans who receive care are indeed happy. But the men and women who died waiting for care never had the chance to make their views known. Similarly, the hundreds of thousands of wait-listed veterans are not counted among the evidence Clinton cites.
Other polls show the true state of veterans’ feelings about the VA. Concerned Veterans for America, a non-profit that supports significant VA reforms, released a nationwide poll of veterans Oct. 21. Its findings speak for themselves. Nearly nine in 10 respondents — 88% — say all veterans should have increased access to non-VA health care. And 91% say the VA needs reform, and fast.
Behind these statistics are the faces of servicemembers and their families, countless of whom have suffered from the VA’s neglect. Hardly a day goes by without a local headline or newscast telling the story of veterans who waited weeks, months or even years before receiving care — if they received care at all. Yet despite the overwhelming evidence, Hillary Clinton downplayed the existence of systemic problems at the Department of Veterans Affairs, while simultaneously blaming the issue on her political opponents.
That’s downright wrong. The facts are indisputable — and veterans’ lives are on the line. How can America’s men and women in uniform trust Clinton to fight for us when she won’t even acknowledge the problems we face?