VA Chief says ENOUGH!

[Gimpy]

This just in from todays edition
of The Armed Forces News.

***START***

August 23, 2002

. VA Chief Says 'Enough'
Although insurance reimbursements are cascading into the Department of Veterans Affairs' coffers, Veterans Affairs Department secretary Anthony Principi is talking of suspending enrollment of lower-priority veterans into the health-care system, and capping the number of veterans who can enroll, or limiting annual open enrollment periods. The department floated the idea (rejected by Congress) of a $1,500 deductible for higher-income beneficiaries. The VA has told its network directors to stop marketing for new patients. Here are a few reasons why:

Since 1995, the number of VA enrollees for medical care has shot up from 2.9 million to more than 6 million, with total beneficiaries heading to more than 8 million by 2006 and almost 9 million by 2012.

From 1995 to now, the VA's annual budget for medical care has climbed only 32 percent, from $16.2 billion to $21.4 billion.

Veterans with no service-connected disabilities and higher incomes are flocking in for 30-day prescriptions at $7.

With the addition of a lower-rung priority group of non-service-connected veterans, such beneficiaries make up 33 percent of all enrollees, with a projected jump to 42 percent by 2010.

***END***

[theoddz]

I am a 100% service connected vet and I also have private health insurance that would help to defray some of the cost of my VA health care (which is minimal, at this point). I don't know how many times I have been over to the eligibility office to try to give them my insurance info and they STILL don't bill my private insurance. I would like them to do this so my deductibles on my private insurance would be paid. It would also contribute to the VA, financially.

I'm getting sick and tired of hearing Secretary Principi cry about how the VA doesn't have funds, when they seem to not want to put forth the effort to recoup from private insurance, when it is available. It's just plain inefficiency and laziness. I'd be willing to bet that, if some VA manager or supervisor was promised a big bonus for coming up with this money, they'd be doing it.

I still say that, if the VA would stop paying managers and supervisors big $$ JUST FOR DOING THIER JOBS....the VA would save lots of needed money. I'm mad about this, as should any veteran and taxpayer should be. I know this system of bonuses and brown nosing exists because I work in the VA system and it's absolutely riddled with waste and abuse like this.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Peace.

[kenmar]

V.A. Plans to Give Priority in Appointments to Disabled

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ASHINGTON, Sept. 3 ? With thousands of veterans waiting six months or more for medical appointments, Anthony J. Principi, the secretary of veterans affairs, has decided to overhaul the scheduling system so the most severely disabled veterans are treated first.

Under current policy, the Department of Veterans Affairs grants appointments first come first served.

That means veterans who were paralyzed in combat often have to wait for medical visits behind veterans with minor ailments unrelated to their military service.

"We will publish a rule very soon," Mr. Principi said in an interview, to set "priorities for the scheduling of treatment." The policy would not affect emergency treatment, which all veterans can get at department hospitals or civilian ones.

Mr. Principi said the need to establish a type of triage became clear after he sent Gordon H. Mansfield, an assistant secretary of the department, to eight Veterans Affairs medical centers to ask for an appointment. Mr. Mansfield, who has been paralyzed since being shot in the spine in Vietnam in the 1968 Tet offensive, reported that six centers were overbooked and unable to accommodate him.

Mr. Principi said it was unacceptable to deny appointments to veterans like Mr. Mansfield while granting them to veterans who had not been wounded or disabled in service.

"We need to get back to our core mission: the service-disabled and the poor," Mr. Principi said.

More than 300,000 veterans cannot get appointments within six months of their requests, and thousands cannot get appointments at all, according to the department.

The backlog stems largely from a decision in 1996 to open eligibility to veterans who were not disabled while in service, Mr. Principi said. Those veterans now make up about 33 percent of the patients enrolled in the veterans health care system.

Robert F. Norton, a deputy director at the Retired Officers Association, said, "The severely disabled are now competing with all other veterans for appointments."

David W. Gorman, the executive director of Disabled American Veterans, said all veterans deserved care, but he criticized the view that "a veteran is a veteran is a veteran."

"The one that took the bullet for the country should be given the priority in care," Mr. Gorman said.

The rule Mr. Principi plans to institute would grant priority for appointments to severely disabled veterans, like those in wheelchairs, even when they seek care for health problems unconnected to their military service. It would also give priority to moderately disabled veterans seeking care for service-connected disabilities.

To help control the backlog, the department decided a month ago to stop marketing its health care services to veterans who may not be fully aware of them.

"It actually could be viewed as a disservice to veterans to aggressively market in an effort to encourage their enrollment," said Kerri Childress, a department spokeswoman.

The marketing decision has angered veterans' groups and some members of Congress, who say the department has an obligation to reach out to veterans not enrolled in the system. Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts and veteran of Vietnam, said it "represents an extraordinary broken promise to the veterans of our country."

Mr. Kerry said the Bush administration should request more money for the department so the backlog of patients could be eliminated and new enrollments welcomed.

The backlogs vary considerably by state. In Florida, veterans can wait up to 18 months for an appointment, but in parts of Maryland they can often get them right away, the department said.

Of the nation's roughly 25 million veterans, about 4.2 million were treated in the department medical system last year. That is an increase of about 45 percent from 1996.

Whether the department has the authority to establish priorities for scheduling medical treatment has been debated, but Mr. Principi said lawyers for the department determined that it did.

[theoddz]

It's about time!!!!!!


n/t