In 2014, Americans were shocked to learn that 215 American veterans died while waiting to receive health care from the Phoenix Veterans Administration hospital.
Two years later, not much has changed:
In 2014, a CNN investigation found that dozens of veterans died while waiting for treatment at the Phoenix VA and that officials manipulated appointment data with "secret" waitlists and other schemes in order to hide the backlog of requests for care.
Over the past two years, the inspector general has issued six reports calling on VA officials in Phoenix to address mishandling of appointment scheduling and other forms of mismanagement, but Monday's report concluded, "These issues remain."
The report found that patients continue to encounter delays in care at the Phoenix VA due to administrators not appropriately reviewing appointment requests, not rescheduling canceled appointments, and in some cases, even misplacing lab results.
Shocking and appalling. Our American veterans deserve so much better than this.
How do we fix the Veterans Administration? The latest Policy Focus from Hadley Heath Manning at our sister organization, Independent Women's Forum, discusses how we can fix the VA and make sure that it properly serves America's 8.76 million veterans.
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