Delayed care for Veterans is a hot topic on Sunday news shows, in headlines

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May 13 2014

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said what is now a scandal should have been ex amined years ago. Meanwhile, USA Today and the Arizona Republic have more tales of delayed care.

Politico: Hagel: We Missed VA Problems
Addressing the scandal plaguing the Department of Veterans Affairs, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says the backlog is an issue that should have been looked at "years ago." "I don't think it just started with [Veterans Affairs Secretary] Gen. [Eric] Shinseki's term at the VA," Hagel said in an interview with ABC's Martha Raddatz that aired Sunday on "This Week." "This is something that should've been looked at years and years ago. So. yes, we missed it" (McCalmont, 5/11).

USA Today: Veteran Reports Delay In Care At Fort Collins VA Clinic
Henry P. Leweling's chest hurt. He suffers from high cholesterol -; and a family history of heart disease ... That pain in August pushed the 68-year-old from Fort Collins, Colo., to drive to the Cheyenne, Wyo., Veterans Affairs Medical Center to receive treatment. Doctors saw him through urgent care and he was sent from Cheyenne to his primary care physician at the Fort Collins VA clinic. He remembers walking into Fort Collins, chest still aching, and telling staff he just came from Cheyenne with orders to see his doctor. He also remembers the staff's response: "We can see you in three or four months" (Coltrain, 5/11).

The Arizona Republic: VA Furor Prompts Vets To Tell Their Health-Care Tales
Arizona military veterans and their families have clamored to relate personal experiences amid the growing investigations of delayed medical care and allegations of falsified wait-time records at the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Health Care System. Many tell stories of prolonged waits, denied benefits, flawed diagnoses and botched treatments. ... Anecdotal accounts have limited value in appraising any health-care system, especially one such as the Phoenix VA, with 85,000 patients and a $500 million budget (Wagner and Harris, 5/9).

This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.