Two Wisconsin VA clinics opened under spot light shut down over lack of funding

Is this more of the same grand illusion perpetrated against our veterans by an unresponsive government? Of course it is! Did you really expect anything else coming out of the same administration that allowed the VA to fall apart and the DOD to treat wounded worse than prisoners in our jails? When the media put a spotlight on the VA, as well as the DOD, they "took action" to correct the problems, as if someone else caused them instead of the administration running both of them. Where were they when all of it was failing our veterans? What did they think they were getting away with? How could they do something like this?

Two northwest Wis. VA clinics close over funding problems
by Mark Zdechlik, Minnesota Public Radio
December 11, 2007
Two recently opened Minneapolis VA clinics in western Wisconsin were abruptly shut down this week by the company under contract to run them. Kentucky-based Corporate Health and Wellness says it lost hundreds of thousands of dollars opening the clinics. It blames the closings on a lack of additional funding from the VA.

St. Paul, Minn. — The two clinics that sit idle now opened to much fanfare this summer and fall. The VA said, and local veterans agreed, the facilities in Hayward and in Rice Lake would make it much easier for area vets to get basic health care. No longer would they have to travel long distances to VA facilities in places like Duluth-Superior or the Twin Cities.

But without warning, the clinics closed this week.

VA spokesman Ralph Heussner says the locked doors are an unexpected disappointment.

"It's an inconvenience and we apologize for that," says Heussner. "The reason we set the clinics in those communities is to provide service so the veterans would not have to travel long distances."

Heussner says the VA is looking into several primary care options for more than 900 veterans who've been using the Hayward and Rice Lake clinics.

As for the long term, Heussner says the VA is committed to opening clinics in the two towns. And this time, he says, the clinics will not be contracted out.
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http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/12/11/vaclinicsclose/