Sixteen Veterans Charged For VA Fraud

Charges filed against 16 veterans for hospital fraud
Citizen Times
Abigail Margulis
July 1, 2016

“Unfortunately, these 16 individuals allegedly decided to lie and make some extra cash by padding their travel vouchers. We simply cannot allow this type of fraud, waste and abuse to go on and we will prosecute anyone who steals money from a program put in place to provide much-needed assistance to our country’s veterans.”

ASHEVILLE – The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Asheville filed federal charges against 16 individuals that defrauded the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs by submitting fraudulent travel vouchers for reimbursements, U.S. Attorney Jill Westmoreland Rose announced Thursday.

According to allegations stated in filed court documents, several veterans submitted false reimbursements for travel expenses on mileage they incurred when traveling from their home to the Charles George Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) on Tunnel Road.

Under certain circumstances, veterans with service-connected disabilities can be reimbursed for travel expenses. In order to claim mileage reimbursement, eligible veterans must go to the Travel Benefits Office at the VAMC and provide information about the distance traveled. Then, the veteran obtains a voucher that they can submit to receive for their reimbursement.

This program exists to help ease the financial burden that military veterans can often face to access good medical care, Rose said.
read more here