United Spinal Association Condemns VA’s Misleading Congress about Medical Appointment Delays
New York, NY – “United Spinal Association is appalled, but not surprised in the slightest, that the VA’s top medical official recently lied to Congress about the lengthy delays that wounded and disabled veterans face in receiving critically needed VA medical care nationwide,” said Paul J. Tobin, President and CEO. “It is an intolerable situation and the crisis is only growing worse.”
In April 2007, VA Undersecretary for Health, Michael Kussman, testified before Congress that 95 percent of veterans are provided with a medical appointment within 30 days of their request to see a VA doctor. VA Secretary James Nicholson’s 2006 annual report boasts a similar claim. However, in a report released earlier this week, the VA Inspector General’s (IG) Office determined that, on average, only 75 percent of veterans who require primary or specialty outpatient care receive their medical appointments within 30 days. The report concluded that the delayed waiting periods are in direct violation of the VA’s stated policy of providing medical appointments to all veteran patients within 30 days of their request for one.
“Even more deplorable is that the IG’s report found that of the veterans waiting for more than 30 days for an appointment, 27 percent of them had serious underlying service-connected medical and psychiatric conditions,” stated Tobin. “With approximately five million veterans seeking VA health care each year, the amount of delayed treatment becomes staggering. The solution to this crisis is not dependent on funding alone. The VA must critically examine the management and operation of its health care delivery system and immediately correct the deficiencies. There is little difference between the VA’s problems in this regard and the Defense Department’s problems at facilities like Walter Reed Army Medical Center,” Tobin remarked.
Despite the IG’s findings, the VA continues to say that things are not so bad. Undersecretary Kussman has challenged the validity of the report by criticizing the IG’s methodology and citing patient satisfaction surveys. United Spinal Association believes that Congress and the American people must not accept this injustice to veterans and we demand that the VA meet the needs of those who have sacrificed so much for our freedom.
United Spinal Association is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit membership organization formed in 1946 to provide expertise, create access to resources and strengthen hope, thereby enabling people with spinal cord injuries and disorders (SCI/D) to fulfill their potential as active members of their communities. United Spinal advocated for and drafted significant portions of landmark federal legislation including the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Fair Housing Amendments Act, and we continue to provide critical health care and benefits counseling to military veterans from all wars with spinal cord injuries through our Vets First program. Membership is free and open to individuals with disabilities of the spinal cord of all ages. For more information, please visit www.unitedspinal.org or call 800-404-2898.