VISN 1: VA New England Healthcare System
VISN 2: VA Health Care Upstate New York
VISN 3: VA NY/NJ Veterans Healthcare Network
VISN 4: VA Healthcare - VISN 4
VISN 5: VA Capitol Health Care Network
VISN 6: VA Mid-Atlantic Health Care Network
VISN7: VA Southeast Network
VISN 8: VA Sunshine Healthcare Network
VISN 9: VA Mid South Healthcare Network
VISN 10: VA Healthcare System of Ohio
VISN 11: Veterans In Partnership
VISN 12: VA Great Lakes Health Care System
VISN 15: VA Heartland Network
VISN 16: South Central VA Health Care Network
VISN 17: VA Heart of Texas Health Care Network
VISN 18: VA Southwest Health Care Network
VISN 19: Rocky Mountain Network
VISN 20: Northwest Network
VISN 21: Sierra Pacific Network
VISN 22: Desert Pacific Healthcare Network
VISN 23: VA Midwest Health Care Network
The truth of the matter is, no one can fix this disgrace unless the elimination of the bonus system stops and congress does it's job of inspecting and revamping the accountability in each VA Healthcare system's network.
The insane amount of veterans returning from unecessary wars is a perfect storm with
much of the old guard from Bush still in place. Congress DOES not fund the VA properly and the oversight of the money is terrible !!!!
There was a training session in Orlando whereas millions of dollars were wasted.
http://www.federaltimes.com/...
John Sepulveda, who was VA’s chief human capital officer, resigned Sept. 30, one day before the inspector general released a report showing that VA spent $6.1 million on the conferences, and wasted $762,000 on video production, food and beverages, promotional items, audio-visual services and awards given to employees who mismanaged the conferences.
The IG concluded Sepulveda lied to investigators regarding his involvement in the production of a $50,000 video parodying the war movie “Patton” that was shown twice at the conferences.
Sepulveda strongly disputed the IG’s conclusion that he purposefully lied, and said he made a mistake. He submitted a sworn affidavit correcting the record in September, shortly after finding out the IG accused him of lying.
Eleven VA employees also improperly accepted gifts from contractors — such as free lodging, meals, Rockettes tickets, and limousine and helicopter rides — while planning the conferences, the IG concluded.
The people who actually do the work at the VA is underpaid and understaffed but like Wall Street, the administrators and executives within the healthcare system are still raking in dough by shortchaning veterans. This is the major problem in a nutshell.
We absolutely have to revamp not privatize the VA Healthcare system. I also fault the VSO groups for being a large part of the problem and instead of asking for Shinseki's head, should have been overseeing the needs of their members. Many sit in the VA and draw pay checks but are not pushing for the vet, except for lobbying in DC.
1. It is a disgrace first of all and has irked me for decades that veterans are addressed as clients. No. They should not be addressed as consumers. What are they buying? It is supposed to be a benefit.. They are veterans. They are people who honored their commitment and it should not be another battle to establish service connection to am illness sustained in war zones.
2. The states denying medicaid expansion has put a heavier burden on the VA.
3. Shutting down the government sure put a damper on backlogs and treating veterans fairly so shut up pundits about how it is an Executive problem solely. It is not.
4. Most people think the VA Headquarters is an entity that runs the VA uniformly and has absolute control over all the Medical centers. They don't even know about the Veteran Integrated Service Health Network. There are 23 networks that service the veteran in differenct regions and monies are allocated for these regions.. The Inspector Generals in local areas are responsible to make complaints and recommendations but VA headquarters does not or can not presently oversee every single Inspector General's recommendations to these VISN groups and many VISN's have failed miserably to follow up on the IG's recommendations and so have the people's representatives by having staffers go in and check things out. They have failed to check on IG's recommendations and do follow ups after receving complaints from veterans.
My suggestion is every congressmember receive letters of complaints for not having their own house in order. Of course on the republican side, their whole housework was to make this administration look as terrible as possible. This is the real shame. For congress to claim patriotism but allow their partisan politics cause unfair and detremential treatment to veterans... Go suck on your yellow Support the Troops Magnet.. congress is throwing rocks from a glass house.
This problem is so much bigger than General Shinseki. He, trying to service the veteran in a timely manner trusted many to follow orders to do no harm,. Many of the veterans who work in these facilities are as disgusted as any pundit but they have ittle voice due to the Administrators who are looking out for themselves and their buddies and yes that includes contracts. In Florida, there are no bid contracts on Transportation/Travel and like the Big Banks and Wall Street. the top dogs get the bone and the vet waits, discarded or ignored. We have so much underfunding, lack of oversight, and enemies in the camp at the top under the Secretary, how can one person be totally blamed? Saying all of that however, says this...Someone has to be responsbile for the ills of a beauracatic agency and it has been politicized to no end. The buck stops with The Secretary of VA Affairs and the President and the people for the most part will settle for no less. The congress has failed so miserably that anything that makes this president and this administration look bad is what they are wanting. So many do not give a ratt's ass about veterans...
I do hope people realize that a non functional congress and fingerpointing to a cabinet member solves nothing. The VA Healthcare system has speciality care and can be the best healthcare one could hope to receive in the world..WITH PROPER oversight. This whole VA mess should not be partisan at all. Death and Dishonor is what one can expect when there is no oversight from congress and that does not matter if is Banks or the Va. We actually need Bigger government intervention..NOT LESS..
There were 8 years of festering problems in the VA under the Bush administration. The stink does not really get noticed until the lid comes off and this secretary started trying to upgrade the VA to meet 21st standards but was doing it under an extreme handicap.
He was underfunded, working in gridlock, overwhelmed with new returnees from two wars and a hostile, partisn, congress. The VA does not need privatazation.. This is part of the problem. Much of the VA works with no oversight has been contracted out. Private hospitals IMO are letting people die on a larger scale. I wanted my husband in the VA and not shipped off to one of Scott's special interest hospital like the Vines.
I said some of this in the CNBC interview and I said priorties were wrong. Much of the Vines and private contracts was edited out but I say that again here. People lower than the Secretary need to be fired. The top needs to be making changes regarding bonuses and firing. I said, Do your job, or lose your job"... and that too was edited out.
I did manage to say saving money on transporation or other areas by hurting veterans was just wrong and that is exactly how some of the community based clinics are run under the Administrator of the VA Medical Center who gets a huge bonus.
Will General Shinseki survive this scandal? No ..I do not believe he will. I believe the veterans will be hurt in the longrun over a resignation but the politics and media will be satisfied to take someone down as many really want the president gone, yet the problem will continue, no matter who is in charge.
Thanks for listening to my take. It's an election year and the truth is, this problem has existed for years but guess what..Nobody was paying attention except a few who KNEW the problem was bigger than one Secretary of the Veterans Administration.