Why Did POTUS Lie to Veterans?

AP FACT CHECK: President Trump’s phantom VA reform claims
The Associated Press
By HOPE YEN
July 27, 2017

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump paints a rosy picture of an improved Department of Veterans Affairs under his watch where accessing electronic medical records is “so easy and so good” and health care is freely available without any delays. The problem: It’s not true.

President Donald Trump speaks at the Covelli Centre, Tuesday, July 25, 2017, in Youngstown, Ohio. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

At a campaign-style event in Ohio this week, Trump’s claims of progress were so overstated that even his own VA secretary, David Shulkin — who stood right next to him — would have to disagree.

“Since my first day in office, we’ve taken one action after another to make sure that our veterans get the care they so richly deserve,” Trump said.

But the multibillion-dollar IT initiative Trump cites has yet to be even budgeted, and an alternative program of private-sector care he describes is running out of money and needs reauthorization by Congress. Government auditors and whistleblowers say problems of long wait times and shoddy care persist. Some VA improvements happened before Trump took office.
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Wait times at Colorado VA facilities 

among worst in the nation, new data 

show

Two years after scandal broke, Denver is worse off than Phoenix was

Wait times for medical appointments at veterans facilities in eastern Colorado and the Denver area are among the worst in the nation, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs data show. Front Range veterans have seen little improvement in the three years since a national scandal erupted over the problem.

The average wait for a primary care appointment at just the Denver VA Medical Center has grown to more than 18 days as of July 1 — three times higher than those at the main VA facility in Phoenix, where the problem was first exposed in 2014, and nearly four times the national average.

The waiting period in Denver had been half of what it was in Phoenix, according to VA data released earlier this month.

Veteran: VA home care will be cut by July 31

In June, the VA announced that cuts to home care would be on hold, but Rosenstock said his family was notified Wednesday that his care would be cut by Monday. 

"This is the only thing I ever asked for," Rosenstock said.

Rosenstock says he needs help cooking, showering and even walking at times.
"Not only have I been receiving it, but I need it. I'm not in a stage of production or getting money or anything else," Rosenstock said. "I mean what I have received, I feel I've earned and what's more, I'm proud to have served."

Plus the three veterans who committed suicide at different VA hospitals.