"... Congress needs to get past political posturing and act" about Bernie Sanders' bill for VA reform

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VA reform should be above politics, but it's not likely
The Ledger-Enquirer, June 2, 2014

It's appropriate that the chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee is a political independent. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on Friday shared the highlights of his bill to reform the VA medical system. If anything should be above partisanship, it's reform of the appalling treatment of veterans in VA medical facilities.

The issue isn't and won't be apolitical, of course; the law of gravity might be easier to suspend than the laws of Capitol Hill, especially in an election year.

But we can always hope.

Certainly the history of the issue (politically selective timelines from both sides of the aisle notwithstanding) makes it clear the rot in the VA medical bureaucracy has been developing long enough for blame to be spread quite widely and thickly.

A report from a 2003 task force established by then-President George W. Bush indicated that more than 236,000 veterans were subjected to waiting times of six months or more -- and this for a first appointment or first visit follow-up. Four years later, the Veterans Affairs inspector general reported to the Senate that "schedulers at some facilities were interpreting the guidance from their managers to reduce waiting times as instruction to never put patients on the electronic waiting list. This seems to have resulted in some 'gaming' of the scheduling process." In 2010 more documentation reached the same conclusion. And two years ago a former VA hospital administrator said records were being manipulated not just for bureaucratic purposes, but to qualify some officials for bonuses.

(Surely prison space can be made available for people responsible for so callous and cynical an abuse of veterans.)

In all, the Associated Press reported, there have been 19 separate VA inspector general reports since 2005 on how long vets have had to wait for treatment at VA medical centers.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki yielded to calls for his resignation last week, conceding that he was "too trusting of some, and I accepted, as accurate, reports that I now know to have been misleading with regard to patient wait times."

But Shinseki's departure doesn't solve problems that were simmering before he arrived and are still there now that he's gone. This is where Congress needs to get past political posturing and act.

At first glance, there's little in Sanders' proposed reforms to debate. The bill would provide for veterans subjected to long delays in treatment to get it at private facilities, or at military or community health centers. It provides funding for more doctors, nurses and other health care professionals, and funds scholarships and/or college loan relief for doctors and nurses who go to work with the VA.

There will be, and should be, healthy debate over the details. It would be encouraging, even inspiring, if that debate could be about the best interests of veterans instead of the best political interests of Congress.

Again, we can always hope.
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