Obama knew about VA issues in 2008

[ivwshane]

Wow dude, that's some good anger going there. Mad that your guy finally got nailed with something that he can't weasel out of? And speaking of partisan hacks, I'd love to see the outrage from the usual suspects here if the House started investigations on this. You'd all be railing about yet another republican witch hunt.

And if memory serves me correctly, Obama was on a Senate committee in 2008 that was looking into problems at the VA, so he went into office knowing that he needed to address this. 5+ years later, 'holy cow! I just heard about this in the news like the rest of you! I'm MAD! If these allegations are true, I'm gonna get serious!'. That's his excuse every time something comes up. So tell me, what exactly has he been doing for the last 5+ years besides playing cards and golf?

/cues up the 'bu bu bu boooosh took more vakashunz then Obama! music.

And NO, I'm no partisan hack. I'll readily agree with others that have said that this has been a mess for decades under both parties and it's a disgrace. Our vets DO deserve better.

Your post shows how clueless you are.

My guy? Lol. My guys are my fellow Americans that keep getting screwed over by our elected officials for purely political reasons.

Obama has done a lot, the problem is that that's not enough. The buck has been passed too many times and instead of complaining about the issue we have people like the OP who turn what should be a completely bipartisan issue into a partisan issue. It's people like him that are the issue, after all people tend to vote for people who are similar to themselves (hence the reason the OP supports crazy, ignorant, partisan politicians).

Yeah so excuse me if I'm a little mad, I'm just tired of the same old shit!

 

[waggy]

This issue is hardly partisan. The VA has had issues for decades now - neither party should get a pass on this. The bubble finally burst on Obama's watch so it is definitely his problem now. This doesn't exonerate Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, Carter ...

/THIS All of them have some major blame.

 

[michal1980]

Your post shows how clueless you are.

My guy? Lol. My guys are my fellow Americans that keep getting screwed over by our elected officials for purely political reasons.

Obama has done a lot, the problem is that that's not enough. The buck has been passed too many times and instead of complaining about the issue we have people like the OP who turn what should be a completely bipartisan issue into a partisan issue. It's people like him that are the issue, after all people tend to vote for people who are similar to themselves (hence the reason the OP supports crazy, ignorant, partisan politicians).

Yeah so excuse me if I'm a little mad, I'm just tired of the same old shit!

It can only be partisan issue if a republican is involved.

 

[rudder]

I know about a health care system that has been highly successful in containing costs, yet provides excellent care. And the story of this system’s success provides a helpful corrective to anti-government ideology. For the government doesn’t just pay the bills in this system–it runs the hospitals and clinics.

No, I’m not talking about some faraway country. The system in question is our very own Veterans Health Administration, whose success story is one of the best-kept secrets in the American policy debate.

-former Enron adviser Paul Krugman

 

[Jaskalas]

No, I said that the current failure to fix the issue with the VA falls on this President. However the Republican party repeatedly shows it has no intention of doing anything better for veterans but are happy to pay lip service and to attack Obama.

You say something falls on him... to what end? His Presidency is secure and you all agree on that point. Attacking Republicans is another demonstration of that.

 

[FerrelGeek]

You are correct that this should be a totally non partisan issue as it is the fault of both parties - as I wrote earlier, along with others. I don't blame anyone for being angry about the situation. But if you've read the posts in here, you've also seen partisan hacks on the left trying to blame it all on everyone BUT Obama. There are probably idiots on here that actually believe what Obama said the other day in that worthless press conference. I'm tired of his feigning ignorance of every cock-up (notice I didn't say 'scandal') that has happened in his admin over the last 5+ years.

Given that single payer, ie government run, healthcare is the endgame for many on the left, seeing how the government is running the VA won't go far in inspiring confidence in the populace - perception is reality, like it or not. Notice btw, that I did NOT link this to the ACA.

Your post shows how clueless you are.

My guy? Lol. My guys are my fellow Americans that keep getting screwed over by our elected officials for purely political reasons.

Obama has done a lot, the problem is that that's not enough. The buck has been passed too many times and instead of complaining about the issue we have people like the OP who turn what should be a completely bipartisan issue into a partisan issue. It's people like him that are the issue, after all people tend to vote for people who are similar to themselves (hence the reason the OP supports crazy, ignorant, partisan politicians).

Yeah so excuse me if I'm a little mad, I'm just tired of the same old shit!

 

[WackyDan]

And looking at it, if even 75% of the lies the GOP tells about the President were true, he'd still have been better than McCain or Romney.

Right. You have no way of knowing that. period.

 

[Bateluer]

I read the title of this thread, and nothing after. The VA has been crap for decades. If President Obama only found out in 2008 about stuff thats been going on since the 60s, thats just another tick in the colossal fuck up that is government medical care.

 

[who?]

This tells the history of screwing over veterans;http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/qelsqv/world-of-warriorshaft---terrible-memory-lane

 

[JEDIYoda]

when does he take blame? he's been in charge for 5+ years now.

rofl.....you ain`t getting a Republican president so give it up....quit wasting our time!!

 

[boomerang]

I read the title of this thread, and nothing after. The VA has been crap for decades. If President Obama only found out in 2008 about stuff thats been going on since the 60s, thats just another tick in the colossal fuck up that is government medical care.

But we need MOAR government health care. We've been told over and over by the brainwashed that what we really needed was a single payer system. That we didn't get it because of evil people.

But anyone paying attention can see that we, as a nation are being maneuvered into a single payer system. Right now plans are being made for taxpayer bailouts of insurance companies that don't make enough money as the result of Obamacare. Collapse the system so that a single payer system may rise from the ashes! The sycophant's cheer!

But a monkey wrench has been thrown into the works. Some, just some of the dirty secrets that were so carefully hidden within the bowels of the VA healthcare system, the shining example of single payer, have been exposed to the light. Oh-oh. If the government can't run a system on the scale of the VA, how will they run one serving the entire population? Blasphemous thoughts in Obama's America.

971 days left. Will we be thrust into a government run healthcare system that we know will fail or will the tide be held back with a hope of correcting the huge problems we inherited with the failed legislation so fondly referred to as Obamacare? Stay tuned while keeping a tight grip on your wallet.

 

[michal1980]

rofl.....you ain`t getting a Republican president so give it up....quit wasting our time!!

thanks for coming out as the partisan hack you make me out to be.

I bet you wouldn't care if Obama raped your mother. It would somehow be Bush's fault in your pea brain mind.

 

[Matt1970]

I know about a health care system that has been highly successful in containing costs, yet provides excellent care. And the story of this system’s success provides a helpful corrective to anti-government ideology. For the government doesn’t just pay the bills in this system–it runs the hospitals and clinics.

No, I’m not talking about some faraway country. The system in question is our very own Veterans Health Administration, whose success story is one of the best-kept secrets in the American policy debate.

-former Enron adviser Paul Krugman

I remember quite a few lefties claiming VA's success as evidence why we needed Obamacare.

 

[fskimospy]

I remember quite a few lefties claiming VA's success as evidence why we needed Obamacare.

Are you saying the VA isn't successful? While this is certainly a problem here, the system treats about 9 million people each year out of a population that generally has far greater medical needs than the normal American. It does so at a dramatically reduced cost. Do you have any idea how many horror stories come out of the private US health care system each year?

If you want to make the argument that the VA provides substandard care use statistics to show it, not anecdotes. I won't hold my breath.

EDIT: Also, the VA was never used as a reason we needed the ACA as the ACA is nothing like the VA health system. It was a simple statement that foolish people who say OMGSOCIALISM at the hint of government involvement in health care generally don't know what they are talking about.

 

[unokitty]

Obama 2008: VA will be 'leader of health care reform'

In 2008, Obama Promised to "make the VA a leader of national health care reform."

In the document labeled the Obama-Biden Plan from the Office of the President Elect, Obama makes a series of promises to veterans, including:
*Fix the Benefits Bureaucracy: Hire additional claims workers, and improve training and accountability so that VA benefit decisions are rated fairly and consistently.
*Transform the paper benefit claims process to an electronic one to reduce errors and improve timeliness.
*Strengthen VA Care: Make the VA a leader of national health care reform so that veterans get the best care possible. Improve care for polytrauma vision impairment, prosthetics, spinal cord injury, aging, and women’s health.
*Fully Fund VA Medical Care: Fully fund the VA so it has all the resources it needs to serve the veterans who need it, when they need it.

VA problems a national sensation

April 14 ... CNN reported that at least 40 U.S. veterans died waiting for appointments at the Phoenix VA, many of whom were placed on a secret waiting list.

Discovery of the Obama-Biden VA plan fits a pattern that has come to light this week in which Obama repeatedly warned, or was warned, of serious problems at the VA but apparently did little in response.

... Obama was briefed on problems at the VA as far back as 2005, when he was a senator and a member of the Veterans Affairs committee.

The Washington Times reported Monday that the Obama administration received notice more than five years ago that VA medical facilities were reporting inaccurate waiting times and experiencing scheduling failures that threatened to deny veterans timely health care.

VA officials reportedly warned the Obama-Biden transition team in the weeks after the 2008 presidential election that the wait times the facilities were reporting were not trustworthy.

...And, WND reported last week that Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., reminded VA Secretary Eric Shinseki that Congress had been informed two years ago that gaming the system at the VA was so widespread, employees would look to get around regulations as soon as the rules were implemented.

Democrats Attempted Coverup

Democrats have been quick to say the problems were caused by an increase in veterans in the system due to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that the solution is to increase spending on the VA...

However, John Merline at Investor’s Business Daily crunched the numbers and found that just wasn’t true.

... the VA’s budget has been exploding, even as the number of veterans steadily declines.

VA spending nearly tripled from 2000 to 2013, while the population of veterans declined by 4.3 million.

Even more telling, wounded warriors coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan are not increasing treatment costs.

Those vets are actually far cheaper to treat than aging vets...

Liberals Love the VA 'efficient model of government-run health care.' That is, they love it for other people.

New York times columnist Paul Krugman called the VA a “huge success story” in 2011, saying “t’s free from the perverse incentives created when doctors and hospitals profit from expensive tests and procedures, whether or not those procedures actually make medical sense.”

Krugman added, “Yes, this is ‘socialized medicine’ … But it works, and suggests what it will take to solve the troubles of US health care more broadly.”

In 2009, his fellow New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, wrote, “Take the hospital system run by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the largest integrated health system in the United States. It is fully government run, much more ‘socialized medicine’ than is Canadian health care with its private doctors and hospitals. And the system for veterans is by all accounts one of the best-performing and most-cost-effective elements in the American medical establishment.”

Obama promised to fix the problems with the VA.

The Obama-Biden Plan from the Office of the President Elect promised to fix the VA.

VA spending nearly tripled from 2000 to 2013, while the population of veterans declined by 4.3 million.

Because they can't get appointments, vets continue to die.

VA employees continue to gain the system.

Facts speak for themselves.

Uno

 

[Fern]

Really you piece of shit partisan hack? Congress doesn't controlled the purse strings? Congress isn't capable of investigating the situations? Congress can't find, offer, require, solutions?

How long has this problem been going on? How long has their been a congress aware of this matter?

You are right, you stupid fuck, congress can't do anything, only the executive branch can, so what is congress doing right now? Oh an investigation?

Uh oh. Somebody's butt hurt.

Here's a link for your reading pleasure (it's from last year): http://cironline.org/reports/vas-ability-quickly-provide-benefits-plummets-under-obama-4241

The Department of Veterans Affairs has failed to provide key information to Congress and the public that shows the agency’s ability to quickly provide service-related benefits has virtually collapsed under President Barack Obama.

Internal VA documents, obtained by the Center for Investigative Reporting and authenticated by the agency, reveal that delays newly returning veterans face before receiving disability compensation and other benefits are far longer than the agency has publicly acknowledged. The documents also offer insight into some of the reasons for those delays.
--------------------


The ranks of veterans waiting more than a year for their benefits grew from 11,000 in 2009, the first year of Obama’s presidency, to 245,000 in December – an increase of more than 2,000 percent.
---------------

“I’m not going to be an apologist for the president or for the VA,” Thompson said, “but this was a long festering mess when they came in. I think they have made improvements.”

The VA’s internal documents tell a different story. They show that the average wait time for veterans filing disability claims fell by more than a third under President George W. Bush, even as more than 320,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans filed disability claims.

The documents show delays escalated only after Obama took office and have more than doubled since, as 455,000 more returning veterans filed their claims.
-------------------------

They show that while the agency has spent four years and $537 million on a new computer system, 97 percent of all veterans’ claims remain on paper. Since those numbers were tallied by the agency in January, the VA’s two top technology officers have announced their resignations, saying they had accomplished their goals.
-----------

Cindy Indof, who handles appeals at the VA office in Columbia, S.C., said it is not uncommon for her to see the same medical information in a veteran’s claim repeated two or even three times. The growth in paperwork, she said, is compounded by a points system that gives performance bonuses to workers for sending letters to veterans but not for spending extra time reading a claims file.

Fern

 

[ivwshane]

Your link refutes nothing I've said.

It does counter the info a previous poster stated though.

 

[MongGrel]

Of course he knew about them.

What's you're point OP ?

 

[K1052]

VA spending nearly tripled from 2000 to 2013, while the population of veterans declined by 4.3 million.

That is a bad comparison. The number of VA patients has more than doubled, IIRC. Total VA budget is about 2.5 times what it was over the same period. Overall healthcare costs and inflation also have not been totally stagnant over that time frame so in reality it would seem that the VA does in fact need more funds to meet all obligations.

The people who manipulated the system to get their bonuses should be fired. However if the requirements were impossible to meet with current resources then simply replacing the people doesn't actually solve the problem. Congress is going to have to open up the checkbook again and figure out a way to scale VA funding to a level that represents actual needs on a going forward basis.

 

[insa80]

If President Obama knew about the delays and record falsification and did nothing even as veterans died, it would be a serious breach of trust and violation of his duty.
Huh well i have read related in http://www.enews.pk/obama-hits-romney-economic-credentials_n8407/

 

[CitizenKain]

Oh, is it the time of year that rightwingers pretend to care about veterans again?

 

[WHAMPOM]

Exactly right. Somebody needs to be accountable. If for no other reason than to let everyone else in the .gov know that there will be consequences associated with their actions.

Like holding the present GM CEO to blame for what past CEOs did. Didn't call one of those Gud'ol'boys lolling in his golden parachute to testify before Congress did they?

 

[boomerang]

Like holding the present GM CEO to blame for what past CEOs did. Didn't call one of those Gud'ol'boys lolling in his golden parachute to testify before Congress did they?

For whatever reason you're not understanding the delineation between the private sector with the government. I'm just going to assume your Memorial Day is going well.

 

[compuwiz1]

Oh, is it the time of year that rightwingers pretend to care about veterans again?

Go pound sand. I am a conservative and I care about veterans and I am a veteran.

 

[MongGrel]

Go pound sand. I am a conservative and I care about veterans and I am a veteran.

Same here, but it's still a bit true.