Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton vowed Tuesday to modernize the troubled VA’s computer system to try to stop a repeat of the waitlist scandal, and even praised Republicans’ solution to allow veterans to seek private care if they get stuck waiting too long for government care.
In a town hall the day before the Veterans Day holiday, Mrs. Clinton said the Department of Veterans Affairs needs a massive technology upgrade so it can share information within its own boundaries, much less with the Department of Defense and private hospitals.
“More than 35,000 combat veterans have been waiting as long as seven months to get health care because of a computer glitch,” she said as the crowd groaned. “We need to lead the VA system to the 21st century when it comes to technology.”
She also said modernizing the VA means working to eliminate a disparity between health care services for men and women, citing a lack of OB-GYNs in many VA hospitals. Women amputees have also faced challenges because prosthetics are often designed for men and do not fit the women who need a prosthetic limb, she said.
The VA has been struggling to win back confidence after a number of its clinics were caught shunting veterans onto secret waitlists in order to boost production numbers and earn bonuses. Veterans stuck on the waitlists often didn’t get the care they needed.
At the Phoenix facility, which helped spawn the scandal, dozens of veterans died while on the secret lists waiting for care.
Congress last year passed legislation allowing veterans who live far from a VA hospital or who have been waiting for too long for an appointment to seek care at a private clinic, with the government reimbursing the cost. It is known as the Choice Card program.
President Obama signed the bill, but he and VA Secretary Robert A. McDonald have repeatedly tried to siphon money from the program.
Mrs. Clinton on Tuesday praised the Choice Card as a way to get veterans to a doctor quickly, but said it should not be used to privatize veterans’ health care altogether.
“I will fight as long and hard as it takes to prevent Republicans from privatizing it as part of a misguided ideological crusade,” she said.
She also said she would prioritize preventing veteran suicide and homelessness, revamping the post-9/11 GI Bill to allow veterans to get a higher education and supporting military families who pay a “psychological toll” when their loved one goes to war.
Mrs. Clinton’s plan, as well as her characterizing the VA reform plan as privatization, has received some criticism.
Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, said that Mrs. Clinton was playing “partisan politics with the VA crisis one day before Veterans Day.”
“For her to accuse me and my Republican colleagues of wanting to ’privatize’ the VA is, of course, inaccurate and offensive,” Mr. McCain said in a statement. “Secretary Clinton should know that the overwhelming majority of veterans not only don’t consider the Choice Card ’privatization,’ they want this reform and in fact consider it necessary to expand their health care choice.”
Mrs. Clinton’s policy rollout comes as she is battling Republican opponents who have criticized comments she made about the level of abuse and fraud pervasiveness at the VA.
In an October MSNBC interview, Mrs. Clinton said the scandal involving manipulated wait times at the Phoenix VA hospital had been overblown by Republicans who were exploiting the situation for political gain.
“There have been a number of surveys of veterans and, overall, veterans who do get treated are satisfied with their treatment,” Mrs. Clinton said. “It’s not as widespread as it has been made out to be,” she said of VA employee fraud and abuse.
Republicans said she was downplaying the severity of the problems the department has faced.
Rep. Jeff Miller, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, said that anybody who would claim the VA’s problems aren’t widespread “simply isn’t paying attention.”
“The VA scandal was caused by dishonest bureaucrats who chose to whitewash the department’s problems rather than solve them,” he said. “Those who repeat that same shameful pattern of behavior are only shortchanging veterans while giving failed VA bureaucrats cover for continued malfeasance.”
• Anjali Shastry can be reached at ashastry@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.