McCain, Sanders Veterans Bill <br>Would Backfire on Veterans, <br>Leaving Them to Mercy of VA

Senators McCain and Sanders are rushing to pass a bill they claim will rescue vets from deadly wait lists. But behind the kudos for bipartisanship, the truth lurks. This bill won’t speed up health care for ailing vets. The fine print sabotages vets wanting to go outside the VA system. Mr. Sanders, who chairs the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, and Mr. McCain, a former prisoner of war, used the drama of the D-Day anniversary to announce their compromise. “We are talking about a system that must be fixed,” said Mr. McCain.Sorry, Senator. Your bill leaves vets’ fates in the hands of dishonest VA bureaucrats.One week ago, the VA’s own internal investigation disclosed that 57,436 newly enrolled veterans are facing wait times of at least 90 days for a first appointment, and 63,869 vets who signed up with the VA in the past decade never got an appointment. At least 23 vets died while waiting. Worse, three-quarters of VA facilities manipulated waiting lists or kept dummy books. That’s not isolated corruption, it’s pervasive. The Sanders-McCain bill will let it continue.Yes, the bill creates a new “Choice Card” permitting veterans to access civilian care if they either live 40 miles or more from a VA hospital or can’t get an appointment within the VA’s definition of an acceptable wait time. But the devil is in the fine print.Mr. Sanders opposed the Choice Card until the final negotiations, and in the actual bill he got language that will make it almost impossible to use the card. Section 301 says vets seeking civilian care have to get a letter from the VA secretary confirming that a VA appointment isn’t available. Good luck getting that letter. Some vets have called and e-mailed their local VA for six months or more without getting any responseHurdle No. 2 comes at the non-VA doctor’s office. The Choice Card tells the doctor: “Please call the Department of Veterans Affairs phone number specified on this card to ensure that treatment has been authorized.” Good luck getting that call answered. To top it all off, the Sanders/McCain bill stipulates that the choice-card program will end in two years — probably only a few hours after the VA finally gets the hotline set up and issues the cardsIn another meaningless gesture at reform, the bill also requires the VA to publish wait times on its Web site. That’s a white flag, not a reform. Britons and Canadians are used to seeing hospital wait times in the newspaper. But most Americans don’t have to cope with long waits, and so why should our vets?Nothing in the Sanders/McCain bill puts vets in the driver’s seat. They still can’t escape the VA without active help from the VAs bureaucrats.Messrs. McCain and Sanders claim the bill gets on VA staff who lied about the wait times. But the bill is toothless: Sec. 408 says that any employee caught falsifying data about wait times or the quality of care vets get will be subject to “a penalty the secretary considers appropriate after notice and opportunity for a hearing.” No mandatory minimums.Sen. Johnny Isakson asked the VA’s top deputy, Robert Petzel (now resigned), whether someone caught lying about wait times should be fired. Mr. Petzel replied “I don’t know whether that’s the appropriate level of punishment or not.” What if the secretary does try to fire someone? Current civil-service protections make that nearly impossible. The bill claims to shorten the process, but has a loophole (Sec. 409) that would allow it to drag on indefinitely.VA managers already are circling the wagons. Federal Managers Association President Patricia Niehaus insists that “it is unacceptable for anyone in Congress to call for a streamlining of firing high-level, or any level of federal employee, based simply on appearances or uninvestigated accusations.” Uninvestigated? There have been numerous investigations in the last decade. Nevertheless, the McCain/Sanders bill calls for not one but two commissions—with members getting per diem salaries, staff, and travel expenses—to report to Congress. That’s what Congress does. It holds hearings. It doesn’t solve problems.

McCain, Sanders Veterans Bill <br>Would Backfire on Veterans, <br>Leaving Them to Mercy of VA

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