Unfit for Service: How the VA Continues to Fail our Veterans

Unfit for Service: How the VA Continues to Fail our Veterans

Lieutenant Colonel Scott E. Rutter U.S. Army (Retired)

They lined up at the last debate and started the discussion about “Medicare for All.” Not a single candidate referencing our existing Government run health care, the Department of Veterans Affairs. We don’t need to guess the outcome, we have proof. It won’t work and its mind boggling expensive, just look at the VA with a budget of $220 billion in 2020. The current President, a strong supporter of the Military, still failing to make the critical, organizational changes needed to the VA to offer our Veterans high quality care. The current Congress and Senate embroiled in impeachment and the past Mueller investigation (remember this), spending millions and talking in circles. Experts in one up man ship and failing at leadership. Imagine they spent all this time and money on solving problems of this country, including those at the VA. Veterans continue, at exceedingly high rates, to commit suicide, die at the hands of mediocre VA care, and still can’t seamlessly transition with their injuries from the DoD to the VA and civilian life. There is always a good excuse, a talking point, but not a solution. Even President Trump, known for dramatic and decisive change, hasn’t been able to make it happen for our Veterans at the VA. Time marches on and another election year is upon us. The mindset of good enough needs to end.

No one joins the Military for the benefit of VA healthcare, but many are injured defending this nation and deserve the respect and unfettered concern of our leaders. We should never forget that when an adversary comes knocking at the door, our military is there to answer the call, anywhere and anytime for every American. They deserve solutions that allow them to continue to contribute to this great nation as full productive members of society. That is the role of the VA, to allow our Servicemembers to continue to serve in our communities, in our companies, in our Government and as strong members of our families. Every employee at the VA needs to understand that mission and go the extra mile, take the extra time and focus on this mission everyday 24/7/365. The goal is not to provide benefits or hand-outs to our Veterans, but to provide solutions to them so they can live their full life and continue to serve.

But that mission continues to fall short and our Veterans, their families and our communities pay the price. In a world of incredible technological innovation, the VA lumbers along behind the curve, laughably still using a health care records system developed in 1990. The Government has allocated billions to implement a transition to coordinate the care between the DoD and the VA, yet the process hits insurmountable bureaucracy, technological limitations and overall malaise. Little oversight and repercussions for failure, no one is called to task for the inability to make this happen and more Veterans struggle, having to settle for something, at least they have that. It’s an embarrassing situation in a nation that has developed the highest level of technological innovation in the world. Yet, we can’t make it happen for Veterans. Leaders say we are doing more, getting better, doing a better job. It’s just not good enough and the change is not fast enough, the VA must be held accountable and pointing fingers to committee decisions or group think, is just unacceptable.

Let me give you a few very specific examples, and there are volumes more and I am sure other Veterans can lend their experiences as well.

Appointments and Availability of Services

When Veterans leave the military they are generally young enough to engage in gainful employment and many that have been in only a few years, need to get a job or start a business. They may be the primary individual responsible for providing financial support to their families. So, what does the VA do? First the VA is only open during the day, primarily 8am-4pm Monday through Friday, so the Veteran has to take time off from their new job, career or business to get there. Secondly, it can take months to get an appointment. Even going on the private sector, there may be delays in getting an appointment or limited availability. Just because you have access to the private sector does not mean you get first in line. Third, if you need to change a VA appointment, a reschedule can again take months even if there is an available appointment. A cancellation by another Veteran does not necessarily mean that the slot opens for someone to take that appointment, instead it is often left vacant. Lastly, the VA does not allow Veterans to seek care in any VA, you have to be registered in that VA and if you want to go to another VA it is extremely difficult, even if that other VA may have more of the services that you need or available appointment. What was that motto, ONE VA? I think it is really each VA hospital for itself. This exists because registered Veterans drive allocations of budget to each VA hospital and therefore, if you are registered they count you for services and get additional funding. It’s not a good thing for you to get care in another VA as that would have a negative impact on your home VA and you would have to transfer to that other VA. Therefore, the use of the VA by a Veteran is actually very limited. How ridiculous is this? When you are in-network, you should be able to use any and all in-network providers and facilities. Veteran services should be available at any VA and the availability of appointments should be national. I should mention that the VA does not allow a Veteran to request a certain provider, strange? Wouldn’t it be better to have Veterans able to pick great doctors and even rate them? Why does this not exist in the VA? I want to know which one did a great job. Let’s redefine Veterans Choice, I want to go anywhere in the VA network and I want to be able to pick and rate my doctor.