I admittedly have a special disgust for the VA management, having taken my father to the VA on numerous occasions both for normal checkups as well as chemotherapy (which ultimately lead to his death), witnessing one of the worst health care systems up close. American vets are routinely treated like a number at best, rubbish at worst, with treatments that are lagging behind. Between the treatments they provided to my father and talking with vets at the hospital and clinics, I wondered how any of them survived that system.
For those who suggest this is what socialized health care is all about, you are wrong. I live with socialized health care which is excellent. With so many retired, middle class Americans turning to the VA due to rising insurance costs while on a fixed budget, it is imperative that the system is corrected. Updating and fixing a broken down system is difficult when the top management is sitting on the board, overseeing their own juicy bonus plans despite cost overruns and substandard care.
Documents obtained by The Associated Press raise questions of conflicts of interest or appearances of conflicts in connection with the bonuses, some of which went to senior officials involved in crafting a budget that came up $1.3 billion short and jeopardized veterans' health care.These people are dishonorable and disgraceful, but that just makes them part of the crowd in this administration.
The documents show that 21 of 32 officials who were members of VA performance review boards received more than half a million dollars in payments themselves.
Among them: nearly a dozen senior officials who devised the flawed 2005 budget. Also rewarded was the deputy undersecretary for benefits, who manages a system with severe backlogs of veterans waiting for disability benefits.
