Tax Dollars Paid $68 Million for Independent VA Audit Instead of on Veterans?

McDonald rejects VA’s failing grade audit
Agency head requests bigger budget, says problems largely fixed
The Washington Times
By Anjali Shastry
Wednesday, October 7, 2015

VA Secretary Robert McDonald disputed an audit’s conclusions that his department needs a “systemwide reworking,” saying Wednesday that he’s already fixed many of the problems and what he really needs is a bigger budget and more flexibility to move that money around.

The $68 million independent audit, released last month, said the Department of Veterans Affairs could become a world-class health system if it had better leadership, cut through a bloated bureaucracy and figured out its facilities budget.

But Mr. McDonald, who took over as top leader last year after his predecessor was ousted, said more money would help solve most of the remaining issues.

“The only way forward, if we really want to serve veterans, is for Congress to provide VA with sufficient resources to meet the requirements Congress has set,” Mr. McDonald told the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.
read more here

Veterans don't blame the VA, they blame Congress and their history of underfunding the VA as more veterans waited.


As promised, here are a few things left out of the report,

2001

VA said that limiting new enrollments would save the system $142 million this fiscal year. The department said the remainder of the $400 million budget shortfall would be covered by unspecified "management efficiencies."

2002

On Monday, Principi visited the Topeka and Leavenworth VA hospitals, which together make up the consolidated VA Eastern Kansas Health Care System. Members of the Kansas congressional delegation have put increasing pressure on Principi since a budget shortfall of about $9 million was announced. The shortfall is expected to result in job cuts and the loss of some services in Topeka.

The GAO said that VA officials knew in October 2004 that there would be a major shortage.

In all, the bungling by the VA's budget office led to a shortfall of more than $3 billion since 2005, the General Accountability Office found in a report released Wednesday, and those mistakes disrupted health care to 700,000 veterans in Washington state and more than 5 million nationwide. "Unrealistic assumptions, errors in estimation, and insufficient data were key factors in VA's budget formulation process that contributed to the requests for additional funding," the GAO said in its report.

2005

VA Announces $1 Billion Shortfall; Senator Murray Demands Immediate Action
Jun 23 2005
(WASHINGTON, DC) -- In the wake of a Bush Administration announcement that the Veterans Administration has a $1 billion shortfall, Senator Patty Murray today expressed her disappointment and swiftly moved to introduce emergency legislation to fix the problem.

Murray, who has attempted to add funding for veterans care to the budget process three times this year, today once again introduced an emergency supplemental appropriations bill that would allow the VA to meet its obligations to veterans.

The administration announcement comes after repeated assurances that the VA had more than enough money to make it through the fiscal year. During the debate on the FY2006 Budget and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill, Nicholson and other Republican leaders claimed that the VA did not face a crisis.

In April, VA Secretary Jim Nicholson wrote a letter in which he declared, "I can assure you that VA does not need emergency supplemental funds in FY 2005 to continue to provide the timely, quality service that is always our goal." Under question by Senator Murray two weeks ago in the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, Nicholson once again repeated his claim that the VA had the money it needs.

2007
Minneapolis VA Clinics were shut down in 2007 soon after they were opened. They were contracted out.

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.

2008

St. Louis, reported in 2008 29 Patients at Marion VA died because of substandard and questionable care

The VA investigation found that at least nine deaths between October 2006 and March last year were "directly attributable" to substandard care at the Marion hospital, which serves veterans from southern Illinois, southwestern Indiana and western Kentucky.

Kussman declined to identify those cases by patient or doctor, though Rep. Jerry Costello, an Illinois Democrat, said those nine deaths were linked to two surgeons he did not name.

Of an additional 34 cases the VA investigated, 10 patients who died received questionable care that complicated their health, Kussman said. Investigators could not determine whether the care actually caused the deaths.

Vietnam Veterans of America: President Bush's VA Budget is $3 Billion Short

Shalala: Veterans benefits system is broken

This is the conclusion of Donna Shalala, former secretary of the U.S. Department Health and Human Services during the Clinton administration. President George W. Bush commissioned Shalala, Bob Dole and several other experts to evaluate the care of wounded veterans after the Washington Post exposed dire conditions at Walter Reed Hospital: deteriorating, rat- and roach-infested housing for family members, neglectful staff, and a mind-numbing bureaucracy.

Alabama State Veterans Director Says Veterans Wait 4 Years for VA Claim Appeal

“Since 2006, the number of claims has grown 15 percent. The amount of time it takes to make decisions on disability claims is two to three year. On an average, it takes four years to get an appeals decision.”

VA: $94 billion for 2009 and still $3.3 billion short

“While we are spending more than in previous years, we are still not meeting many of the health care and benefits needs of our veterans,” Murray said.

Last month’s passage of a new GI Bill will add $100 billion in education benefits for veterans over the next 10 years, the Congressional Budget Office said.

Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain and his Democratic opponent Sen. Barack Obama clashed over the bill last month. McCain opposed it, saying its increased education benefits might encourage troops to leave the military.

Veterans Groups Appalled at White House Veto Threats

A coalition representing millions of America's veterans today expressed outrage at a White House claim that Congress is overspending on veterans programs and has threatened to veto any of the remaining 11 spending bills that exceed the President's request unless Congress finds $2.9 billion in offsets elsewhere in the federal budget.

Under the fiscal year 2009 Military Construction-VA Appropriations bill, the Department of Veterans Affairs would receive $47.7 billion, which is $4.6 billion above the 2008 funding level and $2.9 billion more than the President requested.

In each and every case, Congress held hearings and made promises only to have them repeat over and over again. Just think that those reports are only a few of the ones available online if reporters bothered to look. Do you think that $68 million audit was worth the money spent?