Backlog of Veterans' Disability Claims Increases 179% Under Obama

[ptif219]

It appears Obama is failing veterans which is no surprise to me

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/back...79-under-obama

The backlog of veterans’ disability claims has jumped by 179 percent during President Barack Obama’s first term in office, reaching 883,949 outstanding claims, according to Veterans Administration (VA) statistics. (Click Oct. 1, 2012 link.) The backlog of claims is at near-record highs, with 65.8 percent of claims being backlogged for 125 days or more.
The total claims include disability claims by veterans as well as from surviving spouses, children, or parents. As the VA explains, these claims are "based upon the effects of disabilities, diseases, or injuries incurred or aggravated during military service." And the claims by spouses, children, or parents are based "upon the Veteran's death due to service-related causes." (Click Oct. 1, 2012 link.)
When Obama took office, there were approximately 390,000 outstanding claims, of which only 22 percent had been pending for more than 180 days.
That number had been falling during the second George W. Bush administration, despite the military being heavily engaged in two wars. At the beginning of Bush’s second term, the VA had about 480,000 outstanding claims, with only 21 percent backlogged for more than 180 days.
That number fell by almost 100,000 claims by the time Obama took office
In a speech to the American Legion in August, General Eric Shinseki, secretary of Veterans Affairs, said that the VA was working hard to try to process all the claims, noting that “no one is standing at parade rest.”
“The backlog is real, but no one is standing at parade rest,” he said. “This is a dynamic process, and as we pushed 2.9 million claims out the door, 3.5 million claims came in.”

[Peter1469]

The amount of claims are staggering. I wouldn't blame Obama for the backlog.

[ptif219]

The amount of claims are staggering. I wouldn't blame Obama for the backlog.

Why was it not a problem with Bush? Seems to me Obama is not making veterans a priority like he does Unions

[birddog]

There are many, many more claims today. Obama doesn't allow enough support and financing, likely due to it not involving paying off cronies.

[waltky]

Zeroing out wait times to cover backlog...

Inspector General: VA Schedulers ‘Zeroed Out’ Wait Times for Texas Veterans Seeking Health Care
March 23, 2016 | An investigation by the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) “substantiated” reports that schedulers at the VA Medical Center (VAMC) in Houston, Texas “zeroed out” patient wait times between 2010 and 2014 in order to make it appear that veterans were being seen by healthcare professionals during the standard 14-day time period.

“Interviews of [25 current and former] schedulers in all three services disclosed that clerks had been trained to schedule by using the patients’ actual appointment date as their desired date,” a March 8 report by Quentin Aucoin, assistant inspector general (IG) for investigations at the VA, revealed. “If an appointment was not available on the patient’s desired date, then the clerks were instructed to use the actual appointment date as the desired date. The clerks did this by ‘going out of the system and going back in’, so as to reflect that the desired date and the appointment date was the same, thereby zeroing out the wait time,” the report stated.

A former Primary Care supervisor told inspectors that “if clerks were scheduling patients outside of the 14-day time frame, they could be ‘written up’, which he later defined as written counseling,” the IG report stated. Another VA employee said that “the desired date and the actual appointment day always had to be zero, and that if they failed to do this, their name would appear on ‘a list’.” One supervisor “denied that she ever instructed anyone to do this,” the IG reported. “She agreed that the guidance may have been misinterpreted by some clerks, but emphasized it was never her intention or direction that wait times should be zeroed out.”

Other VA officials also denied telling staff to “zero out” wait times. “The senior manager in Primary Care stated that…wait time measures were seen as goals, not as mandates… "He agreed that manipulating data in order to meet a performance measure is unacceptable, and he stated that had this practice come to his attention, he would have corrected his staff.”

A Mental Health Care manager admitted “in retrospect, the statistics did not seem realistic to her and the statistics were not representative of what was actually happening at the time with regard to the challenges they were facing in terms of access and patient wait times," according to the report. "However, she pointed out that the statistics were not generated by her, but were instead provided to her by her administrative staff.”

MORE

[domer76]

Why was it not a problem with Bush? Seems to me Obama is not making veterans a priority like he does Unions

The backlog from Bush's wars is probably overwhelming.

[PolWatch]

There are many, many more claims today. Obama doesn't allow enough support and financing, likely due to it not involving paying off cronies.

'THE COMMENTS: "We have made progress over the last five years. We've made historic investments in our veterans. We've boosted VA funding to record levels."

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING AT: Whether Obama accurately described the level of funding to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
ANALYSIS: The president is correct in saying the United States has "made historic investments" in veterans, if those investments are measured as funding for the VA.
The VA's funding increased by nearly 68percent from fiscal 2009 through 2015, according to a fact sheet that accompanied the VA's 2015 budget request.
The only dip during that period was from 2010 to 2011, but funding has eclipsed the 2010 mark since then, according to the document.
Funding was as follows:
2009:$97.7 billion;
2010:$127.2 billion;
2011: $125.5 billion;
2012: $126.8 billion;
2013: $139.1 billion;
2014: $153.8 billion;
2015: $163.9 billion.
A few years ago, a report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service used slightly different figures for the VA's funding than the VA published. Still, the research service concluded the VA's funding in 2012 was more than 200 times as much as in 1940 as measured in real dollars, and more than 14 times as much in inflation-adjusted dollars.
"The increases over time have reflected the impact of increases in the number of veterans as the result of wars and other conflicts, the aging of the veteran population, and changes in benefits and services provided for veterans," according to the report, titled "Veterans Affairs: Historical Budget Authority, FY1940-FY2012."
VA funding followed a general upward trajectory from 1940 through 2012, according to the report. As might be expected, funding spiked following World War II and Vietnam and again since 2001.
The overlapping years with slightly different funding amounts were 2006 through 2012. The reason for the discrepancy was not immediately clear.
BOTTOM LINE: Obama was unclear about what he considers the "last" five years during which the country has made progress in VA funding. He may have meant 2009 through 2014, which would represent a $56.1billion increase,or 2010 through 2015, which would represent a $36.7billion bump, according to the VA's Fast Facts.
THE FINDING: Four stars: true.'

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/...eases/9464699/

[Safety]

....oops.

[domer76]

What was that thread about conservatives being more honest about reality?

[Mac-7]

'THE COMMENTS: "We have made progress over the last five years. We've made historic investments in our veterans. We've boosted VA funding to record levels."

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING AT: Whether Obama accurately described the level of funding to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
ANALYSIS: The president is correct in saying the United States has "made historic investments" in veterans, if those investments are measured as funding for the VA.
The VA's funding increased by nearly 68percent from fiscal 2009 through 2015, according to a fact sheet that accompanied the VA's 2015 budget request.
The only dip during that period was from 2010 to 2011, but funding has eclipsed the 2010 mark since then, according to the document.
Funding was as follows:
2009:$97.7 billion;
2010:$127.2 billion;
2011: $125.5 billion;
2012: $126.8 billion;
2013: $139.1 billion;
2014: $153.8 billion;
2015: $163.9 billion.
A few years ago, a report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service used slightly different figures for the VA's funding than the VA published. Still, the research service concluded the VA's funding in 2012 was more than 200 times as much as in 1940 as measured in real dollars, and more than 14 times as much in inflation-adjusted dollars.
"The increases over time have reflected the impact of increases in the number of veterans as the result of wars and other conflicts, the aging of the veteran population, and changes in benefits and services provided for veterans," according to the report, titled "Veterans Affairs: Historical Budget Authority, FY1940-FY2012."
VA funding followed a general upward trajectory from 1940 through 2012, according to the report. As might be expected, funding spiked following World War II and Vietnam and again since 2001.
The overlapping years with slightly different funding amounts were 2006 through 2012. The reason for the discrepancy was not immediately clear.
BOTTOM LINE: Obama was unclear about what he considers the "last" five years during which the country has made progress in VA funding. He may have meant 2009 through 2014, which would represent a $56.1billion increase,or 2010 through 2015, which would represent a $36.7billion bump, according to the VA's Fast Facts.
THE FINDING: Four stars: true.'

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/...eases/9464699/

Thanks to Polwatch's numbers we see the typical story of liberal/progressive government.

More spending and less results.