Last year, the American people were horrified to learn about the widespread systematic failures within the Veterans Affairs health care system, with many veterans being forced to wait months to see medical providers. Some VA facilities were so grossly mismanaged that veterans died as a result.
The scandal was a national disgrace that rightfully cost the then-VA secretary his job, and led to sweeping congressional legislation aimed at improving the delivery and access of care for veterans.
Now, Americans are learning that in addition to failures at some VA medical facilities, many veterans are also facing seemingly insurmountable bureaucratic hurdles to simply confirm their eligibility for the benefits they have already earned through their years of service to our nation.
This week, the Department of Veterans Affairs confirmed that at least 29,000 American combat veterans are being prevented from obtaining their health care benefits.
This crisis was created when the VA, as a result of a computer glitch, failed to process the applications of veterans who did not disclose their income in their application forms. Even though no means test for income exists, the VA marked these applications “pending,” putting the benefit status of the veterans in a state of limbo.
To make matters worse, combat veterans have a five-year eligibility window for health care benefits, which begins at the conclusion of their military service. When the VA outright refuses to acknowledge veterans’ applications, the clock still ticks closer to the deadline, putting their health care eligibility in permanent jeopardy. Subsequent congressional requests for the VA to provide a full list of veterans who are on the health care enrollment waiting list have gone unanswered.
The VA is an incredibly large and complex organization, and it’s expected that glitches can occur from time to time. What is not expected is what the VA did in response to this instance.
Instead of accepting responsibility for the widespread error and working to fix it, VA officials have astonishingly punted the burden of responsibility back to the veterans.
The VA decided that during the Thanksgiving holiday week it would send notices to veterans requiring them to resubmit the very same applications that the VA erroneously failed to process in the first place.
This is unacceptable, but sadly it is yet another example of an incredibly inefficient bureaucracy that doesn’t always put its patrons — who happen to be America’s best and bravest — first. If the VA were a private company and operated in this manner, it would have already gone out of business.
While President Obama has undeniably made major mistakes when it has come to managing the VA, he did recognize the value of having a head of the VA who has substantial business and executive management experience following the revelations of last year’s VA scandal. Hiring former Proctor & Gamble Chairman and CEO Robert McDonald as the secretary of the VA was a positive development.
Secretary McDonald has been supportive of my own efforts to design and implement a long-term enterprise transformation strategy that would reduce red-tape and produce significant and sustainable improvements at VA facilities across the nation. Congress inched toward this goal by recently introducing the bipartisan Veterans Health Care Staffing Improvement Act, which would make common-sense changes to staffing policies at the VA to improve the speed and delivery of health care.
Unfortunately, it seems that for every two steps we move forward to help fix the issues plaguing the VA, we also manage to take a step back. The VA’s failure to process the applications of 29,000 combat veterans is a glaring reminder that the system remains an unwieldy bureaucracy that continues to fall woefully short in providing world-class care and customer service to our veterans.
We can do better, and we must do better. The brave men and women who sacrificed so much in defense of our nation and our freedoms deserve nothing less.
North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis is a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. Thinking of submitting an op-ed to the Washington Examiner? Be sure to read our guidelines on submissions.
