1. Grant in Texas - May 26, 2014

   The so-called VA SCANDAL is being pushed by the GOP as another “Benghazi” SCANDAL already. Today’s Sunday Houston Chronicle says it has happened here TOO. One case was cited by an ANONYMOUS source and the other by an EX-employee. My partner, retired from the Navy 11 years ago after 23 years service has nothing but high praise for the DeBakey and Galveston VA hospitals. He has had no problem with wait times and says he is seen promptly at the time of his appointments. He often waits patiently for me when I go to private practice oncologists and sits patiently when my 1 p.m. appointments mean I get called into an examining room often an hour later, then sit there another half hour before ever seeing a physician. Since he had a brain injury while in the Navy, he was seen immediately recently when he fell from a ladder and was knocked out a few minutes. DeBakey took him right in upon arrival and gave him an MRI. However with only two complainants the Chronicle made it a front page headline: http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/health/article/Scheduling-abuse-alleged-at-Houston-VA-5503099.php

2. Admin Mugsy - May 26, 2014

   Simply put, bad news sells… even if they must create it.

3. Grant in Texas - May 26, 2014

   On Fox News last week, Senator McConnell attacked President Obama over the problems at the Department of Veterans affairs, saying he needs to “step up to the plate” and take responsibility. But he didn’t take any responsibility for his own role in blocking funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs and denying healthcare to our veterans.

   In February, Senator McConnell blocked the Omnibus Veterans Spending bill from receiving an up-or-down vote in the U.S. Senate, preventing veterans from receiving expanded healthcare benefits, educational opportunities and access to job training programs. His excuse for blocking the bill was that it didn’t include unnecessary sanctions on Iran, which are totally unrelated to veterans’ benefits.

   Of the 151 VA hospitals and even more VA clinics, only 26 have had ALLEGED charges directed towards them. We don’t need another GOP witch hunt to disrupt out nation but need to get any real problems resolved. Good interview today: http://www.msnbc.com/30-seconds-to-know/watch/honoring-fallen-vets-on-memorial-day-260484163649

4. Grant in Texas - May 30, 2014

   This is becoming increasingly partisan with GOP hankering for yet another “SCANDAL”! Even “liberals” are running scared like MSNBC’s Chris Matthews who is coming down on the President for not rolling heads. Extremists like the Koch brothers would love to see the VA privatized, to prove that any government healthcare won’t work. They won’t rest until they can dismantle the whole New Deal/Great Society etc. BTW, check out “whistleblower” Dr. Samuel Foote, the VA doctor in Phoenix and his political contributions, a total of $3,100.00 to Republican Sen. John Kyl the last two times Kyl ran for office in Arizona. So could Dr. Foote be playing “footsies” under the table? http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/contributions/samuel-foote.asp?cycle=00 A good read: http://politicalmoll.com/tag/president-barack-obama/

5. Grant in Texas - May 30, 2014

   Here is a 2005 VA IG review under the Bush administration. Same problems existed then: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1174360-2005-wait-time-review.html

6. Admin Mugsy - May 31, 2014

   Good link. Back in 2005, before Bush’s “Surge”(TM), wait times were still relatively low at “30.1 days”, but even back then, as the report points out, was “44% more than the reported average waiting time of 20.9 days.” So they were lying about wait times even then.

7. Grant in Texas - June 1, 2014

   And in 2005, only a fraction of the 3 million maimed in Iraq and Afghanistan had returned home.

Leave a Reply