Page 50 - January Febuary 2016 Issue
P. 50
Veterans’ Afiairs: Revisting the VA Scandal
What is truly sad, as was noted by our guest on the podcast, was that VA Hospitals either
do not have any accountability to reach these standards, or if they do, the information is not
made public, as with private industry hospitals. Is the answer to government waste, employee
retaliation, rewarding bad behavior, and general incompetence, the privatization of the VA?
Privatization of any governmental monolith is an undertaking within itself and whole volumes
of books can be written about the subject, both pro and con. I leave this subject up to the belief
of the Reader.
2016 VA Budget:
On December 18,2015 Congress passed an omnibus spending bill for the coming year that
allocates $163 billion to the Veterans Administration — even more than the department
requested. The allocated budget, which should make US Veterans breathe a sigh of relief that
their beneits won’t be reduced, probably shouldn’t.
There are some scary realities that we have examined thus far. A picture, based on current
events, can be realistically painted that the VA is completely and utterly broken. Money
allocated to the VA Administration can be used as pay bonuses, rewarding sloppy, incompetent
and/or fraudulent work. The Federal Government, as it is, has a whole host of protection
clauses for their employees, and in the case of the VA, protects these employees over providing
care and beneits in a timely and eficient manner.
Whistleblower employees that report these immoral practices appear to have been targeted for
professional retaliation, and yet, the retaliators, in the cases where this conduct has been proven
in Congressional Hearings, have not been reprimanded, demoted or terminated.
I personally ind it disgusting that 115 US Veterans were declared dead, their beneits and care
terminated, and no one at the VA thought it was a good idea to reach out to the families or do a
“health and wellness” investigation to determine if, in fact, these Vets are deceased. This takes
incompetence to a whole new level.
Unfortunately, as long as the culture of corruption, retaliation against good employees,
Federal CYB (cover your butt) rules, and not disciplining those responsible for corruption,
incompetence and malfeasance, no amount of Federal money is going to guarantee that
our US Veterans receive the best care they need. All gave some...some gave all. Our Vets who
gave so much deserve the same level of commitment.
Jonathan H. Tisk is a licensed Private Investigator in New York State.
Please visit http://jonathantisk.wix.com/freelanceinvestigate for more information or contact him at
(516) 314-8944 or Email:jonathantisk@yahoo.com
50
What is truly sad, as was noted by our guest on the podcast, was that VA Hospitals either
do not have any accountability to reach these standards, or if they do, the information is not
made public, as with private industry hospitals. Is the answer to government waste, employee
retaliation, rewarding bad behavior, and general incompetence, the privatization of the VA?
Privatization of any governmental monolith is an undertaking within itself and whole volumes
of books can be written about the subject, both pro and con. I leave this subject up to the belief
of the Reader.
2016 VA Budget:
On December 18,2015 Congress passed an omnibus spending bill for the coming year that
allocates $163 billion to the Veterans Administration — even more than the department
requested. The allocated budget, which should make US Veterans breathe a sigh of relief that
their beneits won’t be reduced, probably shouldn’t.
There are some scary realities that we have examined thus far. A picture, based on current
events, can be realistically painted that the VA is completely and utterly broken. Money
allocated to the VA Administration can be used as pay bonuses, rewarding sloppy, incompetent
and/or fraudulent work. The Federal Government, as it is, has a whole host of protection
clauses for their employees, and in the case of the VA, protects these employees over providing
care and beneits in a timely and eficient manner.
Whistleblower employees that report these immoral practices appear to have been targeted for
professional retaliation, and yet, the retaliators, in the cases where this conduct has been proven
in Congressional Hearings, have not been reprimanded, demoted or terminated.
I personally ind it disgusting that 115 US Veterans were declared dead, their beneits and care
terminated, and no one at the VA thought it was a good idea to reach out to the families or do a
“health and wellness” investigation to determine if, in fact, these Vets are deceased. This takes
incompetence to a whole new level.
Unfortunately, as long as the culture of corruption, retaliation against good employees,
Federal CYB (cover your butt) rules, and not disciplining those responsible for corruption,
incompetence and malfeasance, no amount of Federal money is going to guarantee that
our US Veterans receive the best care they need. All gave some...some gave all. Our Vets who
gave so much deserve the same level of commitment.
Jonathan H. Tisk is a licensed Private Investigator in New York State.
Please visit http://jonathantisk.wix.com/freelanceinvestigate for more information or contact him at
(516) 314-8944 or Email:jonathantisk@yahoo.com
50
