Veterans Affairs hospitals continue to struggle, now with wait-lists for outside doctors | Southern Nation News Test Bed

29 August 2017

Veterans Affairs hospitals continue to struggle, now with wait-lists for outside doctors

The Veterans Affairs debacles of the past few years have been case studies on the dangers of federal control. Now, even after numerous reforms have been put in place, Washington bureaucrats still aren’t able to get vets the care they deserve. 

Fox News reports that a Shreveport VA hospital has placed 2,900 vets on wait lists, not to see VA doctors, but to see outside doctors. The problem, according to whistle blower Shea Wilkes, is the multiple levels of approval required to make an appointment and the inability of Washington officials to know what’s happening.

“No one knows what in the hell they are doing,” he said. “‘Choice’ is not really a choice. The VA generates your choice.”

In his letter to President Trump, Wilkes wrote: “Scheduling manipulations and secret wait lists for care in the VA have not been corrected, they have simply become actual wait lists for non-VA care…Those responsible for these mistakes are not held accountable and their careers continue to progress with little or no accountability. The problems are hidden from the VA’s Washington leadership.”

If Washington can’t handle healthcare for a limited number of veterans, why do we think they can control a national health …

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(The opinions in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Southern Nation News or SN.O.)